After another hiatus...

Pulled plugs and cleaned with wire brush & shop towels.

Checked gaps and reset where necessary (two were a bit over) to .060

Hand-turned engine to where the ball on the flywheel lined up with the needle.

Looked at the distributor -- just where it should be, with the 6 points on the rotating star lined up with the points on the fixed piece.

Hooked everything back up -- won't start. There's a wet "pop" sound every once in a while when cranking.

I noticed that the fuel pump bowl is very full. I disconnected the line between the pump and the carb -- no gas comes out, even while cranking. Time to pull the pump.

Disconnected the fuel line from the gas tank to prevent siphoning. Disconnected the main fuel line from the fuel pump inlet. Blew air (using a straw) into the main fuel line - some fuel came out the other end; doesn't appear clogged. Checked the fuel gage - still fuel in there. The fuel pump bowl is totally full, but there's no visible particulates clogging the filter screen. Blew air thru the pump-carb fuel line - no obstructions there either.

Pulled the fuel pump. Some gold-colored deposits on the inside of the glass bowl. Tried pumping some gas out of a gas can - doesn't seem to be sucking. Blew air into inlet - no clogs there.

Pulled fuel pump apart & reassembled - no visible problems. This aftermarket/repro pump doesn't have removable valves like the original, so I can't inspect those.

Hand test on the inlet - seems like there's good suction. Hand cranked pump -- got good flow pumping out of a gas can. I might not have been pushing hard enough on the crank before? Noted that the bowl is 1/4 to 3/4 full when pumping.

Applied a little more blue gasket dressing and reinstalled the pump. Still won't start.

Don't see any fuel flowing into the pump. Dumped the rest of the gas can into the fuel tank -- now the gas is flowing into the pump. But she still won't start.

And there's a nice fuel leak on both sides of the pump. While cleaning up, I notice my old note that I had to use a 2' cheater bar on a box wrench in order to tighten the fuel lines properly before.

Need to charge the battery, but not yet since there's probably some gas fumes in the garage.