Thanks, I'll look for those.

 

Traced the wire and it seemed to be loose. That fixed starting. Now it refuses to take gas on acceleration. IT HAS NEW EVERYTHING fuel and ignition related!!!

 

I have put a new timing gear and chain set on it now. It still won't take gas on acceleration. It has a new carb. , fuel pump, fuel filter etc. Also all new ignition parts.including distributor and timing gear set. Anybody know the points and spark plug gaps for a 391? Any other ideas?

 

Is there a vacuum advance? Does it work?

 

yes. all new distributor with new vacuum advance on it. as far as I can tell advance is working. Pulling vacuum with a handheld unit moves it. How can I tell if it's moving while the truck is running?

 

2 things I learned about these distributors the mechanical advance under your point plate will get corroded and not work and the bushing on the rod wears and then your point gap varies

you can put on a duraspark from a 390 and have elec ignition that's what I did

my advance wasn't working the mechanical truck backfired started carb and air cleaner and wires on fire so I changed mine out

parts needed
390 oil-pump drive, oil-pump, duraspark distributor gm hei control module

 

After all the parts and headaches, I checked the fuel flow which was down to a trickle. The engine literally had less than 10 minutes of run time on the new fuel filter I just installed. After another new filter, it runs good once again.
Lesson learned- just because you just put a filter on doesn't mean it fixed it.