how do you know your your timing is right if you didnt have it running yet??? are you sure the distributer is not 180 degrees off???
check to make sure you have a good connection on the starter , and that you have a good engine to chassis ground to fix your smoking problem

drg84 . i have actually used water to get the carbon deposits off the valves. i had a high mileage 350 that had a weird noise in it that it sounded like i dropped a wing nut down the intake, i ran this thing and shot water down the carb while running . the water actually worked as like a sand blaster on the valves , about 2min. of doing this the noise went away and the old girl has run great ever since.