[Prowbar]

I think you guys are onto something.
Tom and I made sure to set the distributor to initial advance but as you mentioned the vacuum advance is stuck. At least the canister wasn't moving, and on the initial videos you could hear it kick back on the starter significantly, indicating too much initial timing.

From what I could see the spark was definitely good and strong now.

The video he sent me this morning sounded much better, it was trying to run. Told him to move add a little more initial timing but haven't heard since.

@GMCTom could you chime in and update us on the situation?