what the F@#& did i do ??

ok last night i developed a leak at the base of my distributor that was pissing oil all over the place... got a new gasket today, removed the dist cleaned and replaced it.. al snug.
NOW IT WON"T F#*&ING start!!!!!!!!!!
what did i do to upset the jeep gods? 6 plug wires.. 1 coil wire.. 1 plug.... and 1 negative terminal.. i didnt touch anything else!!! i checked all plugs, even the ones i didnt even go near.. new batt terminals since i had them on hand.. rechecked my firing order with the book... the only thing i did was not mark the rotor position before i pulled it out.. but the engine was not turned over in the 5 minutes it was out.. the first time i tried to start it, it cranked fine and backfired loud when i let off the key.... so i swapped the dist 180 deg. just for ha ha's.. cranked slow and hard like it was pumping water thru it... did another 180 and it cranks like it should....just no start! swapped spare dist from parts truck, same outcome. the new CPS in my pile of junk is going to get thrown in, and i will test the TPS (which i think is a lil F'd..) i didnt do anything to it. why is it angry with me???

You need to reindex the ditributor. It sounds like it is off by one or two teeth. Try a search for "distribuor index". Sorry I don't have a link- anybody help?
Saved from :
"In my experience, one tooth retarded will start well but barely run, and one tooth advanced
will start hard but run fine. It could have turned the oil pump when it went in." author unkown
4xBob

Mike, pull plug #1, you need to use a bar and socket so that you can turn the engine by hand in the normal direction of rotation. Keep your finger in the plug hole so that you can feel the compression building up. If you don't feel it, you're on the exhaust stroke and need to continue once more around. Mark the position of the #1 plug wire on the base of the distributor so you have a reference point to drop the distributor back in and have the rotor line up with that mark dead-on. Make sure that the oil pump gear shaft slot is running from the 11 o'clock position to the 5 o'clock position before you try dropping the distributor in. Snug down the distributor and put everything back together. Should fire but will be a little off until you get a timing light on it. There is another way to tell top of compression stroke but you'd have to remove the valve cover and watch that the valves aren't moving on the upstroke and stop when the mark gets to 0 degrees.

all is well in my world once again.. i sat down..... had a beer..... looked angrily at the truck..... had another beer.. pulleed all the plugs and did the old finger in the hole tdc trick like griz said.. the oil dipstick makes a good tool for figuring out piston movement (dont ask how i know this) all back together and runs beter than before... i did a dummy by not pulling the dist cap and marking it before popping it out.. i put it back in immediately and marked it... it must have been off right then.....
must pay my respects to the Jeep gods with much rocks and mud tommorow....
thanks guys....
mike

Have a great time! Glad to hear all is well.

WTG Mike!!

Glad all is well. Dont ya just hate the stupid brain lapses while working on yer jeep? And dont ask me how i know about those either.

Mike

i think it's a "mike thing" ..... they wouldnt understand....
mike