i put a used distributor in and when i took the old one out i watched the cam position on the back to make sure i put it back in the same and kept the rotor on to make sure as well. well my car wouldnt start before and i cranked it until the battery died trying to test many different things. im wondering if the spark plugs are bad causing it to backfire. while cranking the car throughout this time i took the plugs out to see if they had spark and when i took them out they were covered in gas...so maybe they are still fouling out? also i dont know exactly where to put the distributor and i loosened it and moved it around to see if it would change the timing if that was the problem and it did nothing. also when i rev up the engine to about 3000 rpms it kinda clears up so thats why im thinking its the plugs. also i unplugged the wires to see if maybe i unplugged them it would make a difference and you can see the spark arcing in the cap so there is spark coming from the distributor and when i unplug one it kinda dies down a little so im not sure if its the spark or not..idk pleas help..finally got the car started after many hours of testing and now it runs like crap

 

What causes the backfire is improper timing...period. Distributors were a big issue with these (because people were generally too cheap to do a $300 tune up) so putting a used one in is a gamble at best.

 

stupid me. i looked over the wires again and found that i put number 2 in the 4 socket on the cap and the 4 in the 2.