Well I went to bed figuring I might be in luck with the easy, distributor cap fix. Thanks for raining on my, blissfully ignorant parade this morning, gentlemen. :)
OK. Now I have cranked her over quite a bit without detecting any signs of interference. Still hoping the timing chain/gears are ok.
My father and I had discussed a verification of TDC before moving forward. We determined that it was unlikely to be the problem because she went from running rough to no run, virtually overnight. I believe I can get a wrench on the harmonic balancer from underneath. Once at TDC, I could remove the driver's valve cover and verify #1 valves are closed and distributor is lined up.
I'll take a look at that connection between coil and cap.
Now... I added the following photo to the OP. The scoring in the cap is more extensive than I had first thought. What do you think?
