Thought I’d share a problem we had trying to get our 351w to start that stumped us for 3 days and lots of unnecessary work. We had it running a couple months ago but stripped the motor partially to paint the bay and parts. Anyway, after putting it back together and proud of ourselves it just wouldn’t run for more than a few seconds and stall right out. Everything looked good and we even took pictures beforehand. So first thought was the carb, an Edelbrock 1406, so we bought a kit and rebuilt it… same thing. Then the timing was in question the distributor and then the fuel pump etc. Well someone said ignition switch in the beginning but we thought if that was true it wouldn’t bark at all… Wrong! It turned out as soon as we let go of the key, the juice cut off to the coil. 
Anyway a new ignition switch later and it started right up and everyone’s happy if not a bit sheepish.
Sounds good, glad you got it figured out.
No, you shouldn’t feel sheepish or embarrassed.There’s not a car nut alive that hasn’t had simple things trip them up.
Give me about 10 pages of this website and I can tell you all about it.
Boy is that ever true! Very long story made mercifully short…I spent hundreds of dollars and many hours essentially rebuilding an entire ignition system before finally realizing that the problem was actually just an ill-fitting distributor cap. 
Heh Heh… Thanks guys, I feel better knowing i’m not alone.
We’re never alone here my friend…