Cougar ’71 351C won’t start. Again. HELP!

So I fixed problems of last year and it run well after that. There were broken wire in the starter motor. It could’ve burned the whole house. Then there were faulty solenoid. My hammer fixed that.
Main problem were faulty ignition swich. It worked well all but starting position. Mechanical issue, not related with other two issues. Almost lost my mind learning all that.

NOW after winter it again won’t start! With the key it crancks the engine but nothing else. Not even trying to start.
-I took of the distributor to prime oil pressure. Marked dist. spot with the pen. Installed it back into same exact spot. After that first try, and not even trying to start.
-Tried with the brale cleaner straight into carb and it once popped flame through carb. And then nothing.
-Checked fuel bowls of Holley. Bit adjustment and got that good. But not starting.
-Took ignition light and it flashes. Can’t read timing marks though, but there is spark and timing can’t be that of! Or can it? How?
-Fuel is old, but I don’t think it is that old! It should do something. Cough, smoke…

So what now? What do I check or do?

Is the car a standard Cougar or an XR7? If it is an XR7 it could be a bad tach. The ignition circuit runs through the tach and if the tach does not work the car will not start.

Randy Goodling
CCOA #95

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Thx! Xr7 indeed. Is there way to check it? Onky thing that comes to my mind is neutral safety switch, but that should be fine

Tachometer vibrates while starting, so there is some electricity going there. I think it is working, just not enough revs to get it uo properly

IIRC, bad tach, car will start just won’t run.
Pour fuel directly into carb, if it starts then stops fuel pump or fuel sender?
pretty basic , fuel, spark, and vacuum on these old cats