Dunno what the probelm is, but I only have spark on some plugs and none on others. The spark is blue. I have checked the ignition coil and it is within specs. I replaced my iginition rotor, my distributor is rusty, and my tach works its way up while trying to start the car. could a rusty dist or tach be the problem?

 

You've checked the cap, rotor and wires?

 

How do I test the cap? I will go and swap the wires around to see if the spark changes. Rotor was replaced today.

 

I moved the wires around and there is still good park so the wires are good. I even moved some of the spark plugs and checked the gaps...all good.

 

Usually cap and rotor are replaced at the same time. The plugs not getting spark could be due to the cap. Try replacing that too. They are cheap enough.

 

could a contributing factor be that the tach moving to 8k rpm while cranking?

 

I have no idea if that would cause something like that to happen.