got spark, fuel, and air, but no running engine

pulled my engine on friday to fix oil leak on the crank seal behind the timing cover. had wiring problems saturday into sunday cause i forgot location of some wires. you guys set me straight and i remembered how to use my multimeter (handy tool to have while doing electrical, cheap too). set timing guarantee that its set correct t.d.c. on #1, points are opening correctly and gapped at .016, fuel is going down the carb, brand new champion spark plugs gapped at .035, fairly new plug wires. engine cranks but will not start. occasionaly back fires through the carb. which i know your going to tell me the timing is off or the intake valve is open but i took off the valve cover and the valves for #1 are both level and closed with the piston at the top. the timing chain has a factory tensioner on it to prevent it from slipping or skipping a tooth on the gear. held my hand over the top of the carb to choke it out but nothing happened still have the same results as previous. one friend told me maybe the main jet is plugged up with some dirt or the floats are stuck. not sure but the engine ran on thursday before i did anything to it. just leaked out some oil. if you have any idea what i can do next please let me know i am about to bring it to a shop and have someone else fix it cause i am fed up, but also broke.

 

forgot to mention i am working on a 1962 pontiac tempest 195 c.i. single barrel carb slant 4 cylinder engine does have spark at the coil and at the plugs

 

Vaccum leak, Or the dizzy is 180' out.

 

According to google, the firing order is 1,3,4,2 (this motor is 1/2 of a 389), with a points gap of .019 with 74-76 dwell and 6 degrees advanced. Check your cap, and since the 389 goes counter-clockwise, I suspect the 195 diz does too.

 

My vote is timing 180 degrees off - or the firing order was set backwards (CCW /CW) as mentioned above.

 

backfiring through the carb or exhaust?

carb-180 out.
exhaust- not enough timing.

not 100 percent, but a pretty good "hard and fast" rule for engine fire ups.

 

i tried the 180 idea before by switching the plug wires around. changing 1 to 4, 3 to 2 and so on. guarentee that the firing order is correct. kinda hard to mess up since the intake has the plug location numbers cast on it and the firing order is also cast on it.vacumm leak would have to be about the only avenue i have not checked. i thought all the lines were hooked up correctly and tightly. thanks to all your help. very frustrating to have a running car one day and a weekend goes by and now it sits there.

 

i would check the dizy make sure it is pointing to were #1 spark plug wire is when the balancer is at top dead center sounds like you are still 180 out.

 

thank you to all that informed me of possible solutions to my problem and sorry to those that have read a post from a novice hot rodder.
begborrowandsteel, recardo, lux blue, kikinrods thanks most of all. even though my friend told me in person that my dizy was exact, a guy at napa told me how to cold time the engine and i did just that, found out my friend was wrong and all you guys were correct just like the napa guy. 180 off. thank you guys so very much for all the help!!!