The motor is a 350, with HEI distributor. I did just about everything I needed to before the initial start-up, except make sure the distributor was tightened down. I actually had the wrong bolt on the hold-down clamp, which I found out after the initial start-up. The motor ran for about 30 seconds and then just came to a halt. After that I tried cranking it a couple more times, it turned over maybe once or twice then binded up. I got the distributor set to TDC of #1. The thing I don't understand is that the motor will crank normally when I have the distributor unplugged so there's no spark. Then I plugged it back up, and the motor binds up when trying to crank. So I'm thinking that the distributor just isn't set in how it needs to be. I take it back out and turn the motor to TDC of #1 again. (the way I did this was plug up the #1 cylinder with some plastic, and after the compression blew it out of the spark plug hole, I turned the motor a little more so the timing mark was at 0.) From what I've read in my manual, this is where it needs to be when setting the distributor in.

This is where I am right now, the problem is that the distributor rotor isn't pointing to the #1 terminal like it should be. I think that means that the oil pump shaft isn't lined up right. From what I've researched, I can just turn the shaft with a long screwdriver until it lines up.

If I did have the #1 at TDC then the motor should fire right up, but it clearly wasn't. Can anyone tell me why that happened, and also why the oil pump shaft would be misaligned?

 

The pump shaft would be misaligned because it spins freely on it's own and it's just the way it is sometimes. It almost always takes some fidgeting to get the dist. gear, cam gear, and pump shaft to mesh correctly.

You can also rotate the base of the distributor ( while it's installed) to align the rotor with the #1 spark plug post. It helps to mark the dist. base under the #1 spark plug post (while the cap is installed).

And obviously, all this should be done at TDC.

 

Also, what kind of fuel delivery are you running? It's tough to have everything tuned to perfection at initial start up. The important thing is to have it so at least it runs so you can break in the cam correctly.