Ok... I had to take one head off but did not take the valves springs out and also took off the intake manifold.. I changed gaskets and everything

Now the problem is I can't get it running.

The motor has fuel
I turned the #1 piston to TDC and reseted the timing.


What else should I try? I'm stuck..

 

could be that its TDC on the exhaust stroke. pull the distributor and reset so that the rotor is 180 degrees out. if thats not it, you can put it back just as easy.

 

I did it with the piston all the way up? Is that now how it is done on these 302 motors?

 

yes but it is a 4 stroke engine!! So you have to make sure you are on an intake stroke not exhaust.. The cam shaft does move when the crank does thats why he said make sure its not 180 out.