My friend, I am having the same issue!!! It sounds like you did not grow up with these machines. I did. They are simple, until they are not!!!
First problem is that they are 6VDC. Next is Ford's bright idea was to us + ground.
Here is a primer: It is either one of three things. 1-Mechanical, 2-Fuel or 3-Electrical. If you have a spare spark plug, Pull one lead, any lead off and insert your extra plug into it and ground it to the engine by connecting where the hex or threads of the plug are with a clean ground. You can use jumper cables, a gator clamp like those used on a
battery tender/charger or just use a zip tie to the grounding surface. Have someone turn the engine over. While they are doing that, watch for a spark. Don't do this in bright light. The spark is hard to see. Use a rag or towel to shroud the light so the area around the plug is darkened to make the spark more apparent. If you don't have spark, it could be the condenser which is inside the distributor, the
coil which is the big beer can looking thing that has a wire to the center of the distributor cap. Or, a cracked distributor cap, bad points, bad
coil wire, bad voltage regulator, bad connections at any given junction/terminal and so on. Start with the least expensive item first if you are doing replacements. But verify that there is NO spark.
Be very careful about pouring fuel down the throat of the
carb. If you do this, with the air cleaner totally off, have a fire blanket handy to snuff any fire that may result. Those fumes are a bomb.
If you have spark, check fuel next. Those mechanical fuel pumps crap out. Most people install electric ones, hit the "run" key to activate it briefly to load the
carb before turning the key to "start".
