Thanks to all who have stuck with me this far.  Unfortunatly, still not there (although, the new coild isn't here yet)

Well, ran home on my lunch hour to double check and found that the coil is hooked up properly, and the coil primary resistance is ~0.7 Ohm and the secondary resistance is ~7.3 kOhm (Pertronix Flamethrower 2, the numbers match to the specs)

Tried calling MSD tech support.  No help.  Had me check a few things, all worked out to show things should be working.  However, when I had the distributor removed for a test and had to put it back in the block, all per their instruction, he just announced "there are a bunch of calls backing up, maybe you can get it back togther and call back later" and hung up.  So... yeah.  

Hopefully I'll get that coil tomorrow, but I'm not holding my breath on that working.  

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this is quite simple, i would try what i and tko suggested then report back with the results, otherwise we are just guessing which does not help you.
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Last edited by barnett468 (1/02/2015 4:56 PM)

When you pulled #1 plug how did it look?  Had a case where 5 people were checking every obscure possibility on a car when I asked them if they had checked and cleaned all the plugs.  They looked at me like I was an idiot until they pulled them all and they were completely carboned up (of course they never bothered to say gee, he was right).  With a new set of plugs it fired right up.  If you have limited run time on the motor, it could be that you were running richer than you thought and you may have fouled several or all of them.  Can't remember if you said you were running cooler plugs but you may want to revisit the heat range if they are indeed fouled.  With all the issues you are having, I would probably just replace them anyway just to tick a low-cost item off the list.  Also make sure you are not running a platinum plug with the MSD.  They state pretty clearly to use good old copper plugs with their ignition equipment.

I once had this problem with a 440 i built in my younger days. I was sure my cam timing was right, ....... but it wasn't. It would hit until the lifters pumped up.
Did you degree the cam? Advance it? Some timing sets are wrong straight off the shelf.

Just re read post # 11 where you said it has run reliably in its current build so this wont apply. Maybe the first motor though.

Last edited by 50vert (1/02/2015 10:12 PM)

So I put the new coil in (MSD blaster 2, high vibration).  While doing it, to give it the best chance as possible at start-up, I put new leads on the wires connecting it to the MSD 6A, to be sure.  Also checked verified TDC with a piston stop and checked valve timing.  All checke dout, so no question marks there anymore.  Distrbutor in at 0 BTDC to start out with, freshly charged battery, 2 cans of starting fluid on standby....

and it hit and caught on the frist try with no coaxing needed whatsoever!!!!!

So What I figure it was was weak ignition components, several of which were faulty which clouded the issue.  The old distribuotr out and the new MSD 8479 in made a noticable impovment, in how close it got to catching and in how it idles now.  Then the lynch pin of the coil made it a closed and done deal.  

What really through the whole effort for a spin, for me at least, was that they were weak, not outright bad.  So I got spark in many of the tests and diagnostics.  But under the stress and load of firing at full ciompression, it just coudln't do it.  

So it seems that yes, exeperimentally we have shown compression (not even that much, just 11.5:1) can cause a no-spark condition if there are weak components.  

Thank you all very much for the assitance in diagnosing, and in a way keeping me motivated to actually do it and see it thorugh and not give it up.  

Awesome, and thanks for following up with the outcome.  Often on the net these threads end with no resolution greatly diminishing the effectiveness of a forum, or even a Google search should someone else be experiencing the same problem. 

Thanks for the feedback on the resolution of your problem.