I'm stumped...maybe you guys have some ideas why my truck won't start

[BigTater]

Ok, here's the deal.  I have an 82, 4x4, 350/350 (stock was a 305).  Went warm it up the other day and it started up and ran fine and when I went to take off it died as soon as I applied the gas and wouldn't start again.  I've checked and I'm getting fuel, but no spark.  The motor is 2yrs old but the HEI distributor is the stock one from the 305.  It hadn't been running weird or anything.  I replaced the module, coil, cap, and rotor (just figured I'd do the cap and rotor while I was there) and still no spark.  I put a test light to the batt terminal on the dist and its getting power.  You guys have any troubleshooting ideas?  I'm fresh out

[ChYmAiL]

Have you checked you distributor gear? Maybe it broke...

[1982 Daily Driver]

It could be the pick up coil in the dist.

[bake74]

     Take your cap off, have someone crank over the engine and make sure the rotor spins (to make sure gear is not broken).  Since you are getting power, next I would take a spark plug and wire out and give it the old spark plug to ground routine.  That way you can tell for sure if it is in the distributor as mentioned by the pick up coil or something else.

[Lt.Del]

piggybacking off of bake, see if your distributor rotor turns...if not it could be your timing chain.  Timing turns your camshaft which turns your distirbutor gear.  Of course, distirbutor gear turns your oil pump. 

[1979C20]

First off, are you getting power to the battery wire on the cap? I had a problem similar to this, I turned a corner and my truck backfired really loud out of the exhaust then would.backfire through the carb because the rotor wasbt turning. Pull the cap off and put a long flat heas screw driver in the rectangular hole in the rotor and bump the key. You should be able to see the screw driver move. If it does, the problem is electric, either the ignition coil, pick up coil, ignition control module, or condensor. If it doesnt, first thing to check is the distributor gear pull your distributor out and make sure the gear is in proper condition, no missing or ground down teeth. If the dizzy and cam gear are both okay, then your timing chain broke. Luckily it was just my distributor gear and not my cam gear or timing chain. Good luck. Report back with findings!

[BigTater]

Hey guys, thanks for all the replies!  Life got kinda crazy and I ended up having a buddy deal with it.  Long story short-  It was somewhere in the dizzy.  It was the stock unit from the 305 and had the additional wiring for the spark control or whatever it was called. The wiring was just all janky so I said Eff it and ordered a billet HEI ebay special and had him throw that in.  Runs like a scalded cat now.  Waaay better than it did before which tells me that my previous setup was just wrong from the get-go. 

[bake74]

     Glad to hear you got it up and running.