Cam,
this hot wire sounds a little tricky, but I'll see what I can do.
part of my issue is that I'm running solo and have no help. The spouse keeps the 18 month old out of trouble, so no help there.

If I'm sneezing smoke out the carbs, then the ignition is way off.

OK.

That would explain a lot, but I'm not sure how to solve it, when I crank the thing until rotor is pointing to #1 (about 300 degrees), timing mark is at 0 and #1 is at TDC. Maybe I do have the distributor gear wrong? I've checked it several times. How can I be 100% sure that it is right? it's a multi-stoke engine, so this align more than just once right?

What I've tried is leaving the ignition on, and gently turning the distributor until #1 gives me a flash from the timing light and starting there.

When I try cranking at this first position, it kinda starts... sorta. almost but never fully gets going - or if it does, it's fitfull and dies immediately.

Bill's suggestion is great, except that I already took the whole distributor assembly and ignition module off of the 220 that's in the garage, so it's of no use as a comparison.

The smith's tach is unhooked.

I removed the extra intake gasket a while back when I was hunting fuel economy problems.

I recently checked the timing gear, all lines up on mark. I think I've seen all the valves opening and closing, but I'll double-check that.

I've got new NGK BP7HS sparks in there now.

So far the *only* time I've been able to get the engine going is when the wires have been in the wrong order - usually #2 and #3 reversed, but that has not been consistent enough to help... I think something is very wrong on the timing and this must be the problem. I've eliminated everything else.

I have the greenbook, haynes, clymer, and chiltons manuals, and I have read Ron's article on setting static timing. Is there a better step-by-step trouble-shooting guide for this?

As far as I know, this engine, and it's cam are original volvo, never been serviced or replaced in the last 22 years. The engine is not this car's original, but supposedly came from another 68. It's block numbers check out and compression results are very good.