thanks everyone-
I'll try giving it a bit of real petrol gas and see if it starts then. There is at least one vacuum hose that doesn't have anything plugged to it, but I think it was like that before. So I'll check that out, too, against my manuals. Yeah, I was getting spark just fine, and it did run (barely) with full choke, so I think the distributor shaft must be in tact. Probly wouldn't hurt to just pop the carb off for a good cleaning, either, so if the gas starts it, I'll definitely remove it and dunk it in carb cleaner- - good idea?
Will report back soon