1928 Chevy. Vavlev job just completed, valve clearances set, rebuilt starter, fire to the coil and the plugs, turns but won't start. Tried priming number one plue to no avail..Any ideas?

Things to check:

Carb has fuel
Vacuum tank has fuel
Valve timing is correct (I assume you removed the head)

Give a short squirt of carburetor cleaner into the carburetor intake and then try to start. The engine should fire on a few cylinders. If not then recheck, electricals and to be sure that the carb is not overflowing with gas (too rich). After you get it to fire on at least one cylinder then check the carb, vacuum tank and other fuel delivery systems.

Having recently had my engine apart, I can tell you of one thing to watch. I assume you know that you can install the distributor 180 degrees out of phase. I know this and was so sure that I had reinstalled it correctly only to discover I had mine in backwards. As a check, I pulled the #1 plug and cranked the engine with my finger in the spark plug hole. When you feel the compression, the rotor should be pointed at the #1 wire. If it is pointed away from #1 then you know that the fix is easy.

Rich

Right on! RichK, that has happened more times that I would like to admit, the odds are 50-50 but distributors don't appear to follow the law of averages. You gotta remember that the engine turns two revs to one for the distributor, and half of the two revs is wrong!
The easy fix is to rotate the sparkplug wires with #1 next to the rotor contact. Purists will pull the distributor and insert it so that the rotor is pointing away from the engine block, which may also require that the slot in the oil pump is re-oreinted, ....when #1 is on the compression stroke and TDC. I wonder if there is a points deduction if the sparkplug wire for #1 is at the non-standard place? How about that Gene?

Gene is on tour so I will attempt to answer for him. I have observed and also been told by old mechanics that the factory set the #1 plug wire as close to the tab on the bottom of the distributor cap or window on later models. That way even rookie cap/wire assemblers could get it right.

Now to the judging. Currently VCCA judges do not deduct for incorrect wire placement. Not sure any of them are sure of placement anyway. And if they are not sure they are instructed to not deduct.