some help starting new engine

Thank you guys...putting charge on battery will start again tomorrow.

I dont want to piss on your wheaties here, but if you have been cranking on a motor long enough to wear down the battery, you may have wiped out the cam and lifters. All it takes is 3 or 4 revolutions of a motor to WIPE off the assembly lube and from there, the cam lobes are running metal to metal.
To test for spark, you can pull the distributor out of the motor and pull a plug wire off a plug. Stick a spare plug in the loose wire and turn the ignition switch ON. Now spin the distributor shaft. If you see the plug arc, then you need to determine where TDC is and then stab the distributor. If you want a diagram, look at Hughes Engines website in the camshaft section.
I hope for your sake that the cam is okay. Priming the system wont help either, since the cam and lifters are SPLASH lubricated by oil slung from the crankshaft. Keep us in the loop.

Use the TDC mark to set the distributor where it will start until you get the light on it. You are just literally shooting for TDC as the timing or slightly BTDC.

Easiest way I know to hit the mark the first time is to have a reliable TDC mark, put the intermediate shaft in so that it is at 9 and 3 (straight across) and then put the distributor in. Just make sure that the rotor is pointing to the #1 terminal and it should hit first try if everythign else is in order.

Check and make sure you have a good ground. I've seen engine put back in cars and they crank slow when they have a ground left off or too small a wire. Easy thing to miss in the excitement of a first fire.

Thanks guys, The cam and lifters i carried over from the previous engine....i am running one ground strap from the engine to the K member,Do i run from engine to body as well?....problem now is i do not have spark from the coil wire....power to +side is there although seemingly weak...a way to test coil? my electric knowledge clearly is lacking,so any and everything will be absorbed...but first i need some power.

Some car guy by 9&3 do you mean pointing from cylinder bank to bank or parallel with the cam(as i have it)?

run a ground from the engine to the body. you do have one from the bat to the engine, right?

Running parallel to the cam

ok...first,ground to engine from batt.smaller groung from back of engine to firewall,or body ground,not really need for x-member gnd.
is there key power to resister on firewall? if so,is there power from neg coil,form resistor? resisters go bad.
bring engine up on #1,front cyl,drivers side,and match the plug wire tower on cap to rotor.like above might have to pull dist,and realighn the drive gear/oil pump shaft,to get proper plug wire location. if all is ok?
*got spark? is it electroic,or points?
*a slow starter on a new engine is a pain! if the timing is off,or 180deg out,the engine might turn over hard,or stupid when starting.
let us know how it going,good luck,mike

No engine to battery ground,Battery is in the trunk(grounded to a frame rail) will pull the ground of the K and relocate it to the body...Auto Zone said my battery was good(5+years old and sitting)its good for about 2 minutes of cranking(starter seems to be at speed) so either the battery is no good or another problem has shown itself,i want to implement the timing suggestions but need some steady juice.

orange box ignition.

I have key power to the resistor,and it carries over to the opposite side of the resistor,still no coil spark.

Make sure the orange box has a good ground.

The slot in the drive can be ALMOST parrallel and it is on the wrong stroke. Off just slight bit. Kind of hard to describe but once you see it positioned the wrong way and then the correct way you won't forget.

Then

sounds stupid,but are sure the rotor is turning while cranking? i had a dist gear/shaft fail once.
sounds like maybe the wiring to the orange box/dist/car is an issue? do you have a FSM? or wiring diagram to ck all the ign wiring?
some times i use a dist hooked to the system,but in my hand,and spin it,to see if the system is working.is any of the parts to be known to be good,from before?
ck pickup in dist,vs reluctor for clearance.should be .010 or less w/o hitting.
look into the tech archives for wiring,and electronic info,here is the wiring dia from there click on the link. http://www.moparts.org/Tech/Archive/elec/3.html

Rotor turns,Will Take a look at the diagram.