Put a test light on the tach terminal, ignition on. Does the light glow? If so, the distributor has power, and the primary side of the coil is good.
Crank the engine, the light should flicker. If not, carefully inspect the wires to the pickup coil. If they are good I’d suspect the ignition module.
To time the engine, roll it over until the number one cylinder is on the compression stroke, turn it by hand until the timing marks read where you want the timing to actually be. Then install the distributor with the rotor pointing at number one, remove the rotor and slowly turn the distributor until the little teeth on the pole piece and the pickup coil line up, then tighten the distributor. Reinstall the rotor, car, the rest of the plug wires, and start it. If you did everything right, it should fire right up, and when you put a timing light on it, the timing should be VERY close to what you want.
To verify the distributor is actually in correctly, once you have the distributor installed, put a spark plug on the number one plug wires, install the rotor, cap, etc but do not tighten the distributor, do not crank the engine. Turn on the ignition BUT DO NOT CRANK IT, and rotate the
distributor by hand back and forth. If it’s in right, every time the pole pieces line up you should see a spark on the number one wire. If so, remove the rotor, line up the pole pieces, tighten the distributor.
