engine basics - ignition help needed

["Vath, Michael J." <mjvath@xxxx>]

Looking for help with Engine Starting 101. Your charity very much appreciated.. 

The rebuilt 392 hemi has been installed, plumbed and adjusted in the C. Try as I may, I can't get it started. It turns-over nicely. Seems like its gotta (?) be a timing issue, as there's spark and gas flow. If I describe the status, maybe someone out there can tell me what I'm missing?? Please help a dummy out!

Just the facts:
TDC/timing hashmarks on damper are a good 1/4 crank turn different that TDC of cylinder #1 (driver-side front). This was determined by using a chopstick inserted into the sparkplug hole while turning crank (wife was excited about her bright idea).
Distributor/oil pump gear set accordingly to point to #1 distributor cap terminal - which is almost straight-forward towards the front of the car.

As there's no wiring harness yet installed, the coil hot+ wire is run from the pos. batt. terminal, through a ceramic resistor. Distributor (removed from a running car) has petronix conversion installed; red wire to pos+ coil and black wire to neg- coil. Engine is then turned by jumping terminals at the starter/solenoid relay. Brand-new battery has lots of juice.

When the engine is turned, gas is flowing. (Verified gas smell on freshly-gapped spark plugs). New plug wires, cap, rotor and coil. I got several fiery pops through the exhaust manifolds but nothing close to starting. I tried pivoting the distributor body from one extreme to another. I moved the distributor/oil pump gear one tooth at a time towards the factory damper hasmarks and promptly got an unhealthy-looking pop of flame up through the secondary carburetor on the 3rd move.

Figured I'd call it quits then & there and cry for help. The neighborhood kids were thrilled by the flame ball in the dark driveway, but disappointed at the lack of success -- as was I.

What pearl of basic knowledge am I missing? Many thanks. mike v