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I wish I was there to help @MarcDeSoto I am confident we’d settle this is about 2 mins. So many people offing so many tips here it gets confusing. I 100% agree you must have #1 piston at TDC firing stroke. Cap off the distributor. Where is rotor pointing? That will be where your #1 spark plug wire goes. Carry on around the rotor hooking up wires 5,3,6,2,4. In that order. Static time it again. Still too far out of TDC? You are likely out 1 tooth fwd or back on the distributor drive gear. Trial and error time. Remove dizzy again. Turn dizzy so it moves 1 gear notch on the camshaft gear. Forward or back. Static time it again. Better or worse? Gotta get that static light to come on very close to piston TDC. Worse turn dizzy gear the other direction. Static time it again. You said it was firing 25 deg before TDC. Indeed my friend you are way out. Always #1 piston at TDC, compression stroke whenever you static time it. You will be very good at this when you are done.

I address priming the pump here at the 10:30 mark

You need to remove the oil pump and prime it. Get all the air out.

To recap, @MarcDeSoto has tried to fire it up. It would not fire. We are working through the steps to eliminate variables that would prevent it from firing. Your compression numbers indicate your valves are decent. The added oil has helped seal up the rings. This is expected. I think your compression and valves can probably be eliminated from further troubleshooting. We have set out a plan to simply address fuel delivery. So check that off the list of variables. All that is left is spark at the right time. To recap and confirm: Distributor is indexed to the oil pump so #1 is at approx 7 o’clock? The #1 spark plug wire when seated in the distributor cap sits right over the rotor in the 7 o’clock position? Firing order 1,5,3,6,2,4. Plugs are clean? Wires are not able to ground out? There are 2 distributor timing adjustments. A minor and a major adjustment . Major is under the distributor, not easily seen. Minor adjustment is the small bolt easily seen. It bolts and locks the distributor to the block. There is a chance your major adjuster is out of adjustment too far. Then you can’t dial in the timing using the minor adjustment. I’ll post a few pics of major and minor adjustments.

If you look at #1 you’ll see the thermostat and related parts are in the way of where a timing pin hole would sit. 1 and 6 are in the same position of crank throws. So they put the timing pin above 6, where it could sit easily.

My reasoning for the compression test was the gather intel on the valves. Sealing properly? Once confirmed i planned to guide you through ignition timing. Getting down to basics and building up from there.

A spare 6v tail or head light bulb and two wires with an alligator clip on each end will do it. Or a digital multimeter set to continuity beep will also do it. You don’t need to buy a test light if you have any of these options mentioned.

A Canadian 25" long 218 ci engine This is 3 ⅜" bore x 4 1/16" stroke. Be aware that this is a very different engine than the USA 23" 218 engine. The USA 218 is 3 1/4' bore x 4 ⅜ stroke.

I too am not an advocate of starting fluid. Ether. The engine was not designed to need it. It may help startup tired, old engines. Engines that have other things wrong with them. Troubleshooting and fixing your engine is very important. It’s not diffIcult. A fuel delivery test can easily be proven, although this is not required to start the engine. The engine will and can fire when you add a little fuel to the intake. Without a carb even installed you can get it to fire. If everything else is right. 3 simple things are needed to fire up your engine. Compression, fuel, and spark at the right time. Get all the spark plugs out and get a compression gauge. What is the measured compression of each cylinder at cranking speed? This will help verify valve timing and valve seat seal-ability . You say you see spark. When? Where is the piston position when the spark fires? What are the positions of the valves when the spark fires? For now I’d ignore the fuel delivery concern. You don’t need it if you are able to get fuel into the intake yourself. I’m betting on a valve timing or spark timing issue. Can you record compression and report back with data? Both valve timing and ignition timing has got to be right. Do not throw a bandaid at the problem. Find it and solve it. Starting fluid is a bandaid. At this stage, this pic shows the only fuel delivery system you really need. 100% reliable delivery of fuel to fire up a dormant engine. Any doubts about fuel delivery are completely eliminated. Enabling you to focus on and find the real problem why your engine is not starting.

I'll be 60 in 8 years. 60 must be the magi number. Lol. I just finished my first flathead rebuild. I agree, its not too late to try! ? We are more patient I think, as we age.

@Los_ControlI agree. Digital battery chargers seems to have created more problems than the old ones. I have full control with my 6V 15V charger. I turn it on, full manual mode, then set an alarm on my phone for an hour or so later. It takes some thought and common sense. Yet I can control the charge rate. I prefer that.

I have no idea or experience with Optima batteries. Flooded wet cell battery, I’d try turning the old battery charger amps down. Try 6V 2A. For a few hours. The see if it’ll take that charge.

You need a 6V manual charger. Old school transformer type. Hit it with 15A for 30 mins then your digital Noco will charge it. Or just continue charging with the old school manual charger.

This is the new system that the majority of next generation voters want. ?

We have different gun laws and charter of rights here in Canada. We will end up charged, and may go to jail if we protect our property or possessions here by using or showing a gun. Guns are be to be locked up and stored away. Ammo must be locked up and stored in a different place. Its designed so that way so that we cannot quickly grab a gun and deal with a thief, murderer, or rapist that might enter our home at night. It is frustrating when thieves lurk our neighborhoods. A person has to be careful and tricky to catch them. If thieves are caught and charged, they can and sometimes do come back later and burn your house down. With our system here you are better off here to just be diligent and make it hard for them to steal anything.

Last night a neighbor posted in our community Facebook group about black Dodge truck cruising the neighborhood. Someone tried to steal a jerry can of gas from their driveway. They warned us all to be aware and on the look out. About an hour later at 10 PM a truck pulled into our drive way. This never happens. We have a private driveway in a more rural type neighborhood. Ya'll have likely seen it in my YT videos. I saw the headlights in my driveway from my living room window. I got up and looked out the window. The truck pulled a U-turn and drove away again. Interesting... I check my security camera recordings. Truck was driving up the road and pulled into my driveway with a purpose. Confident, appearing to belong there. Front license plate was removed. I got a decent look, it was a black Dodge pick up truck. I went out, fired up my car and toured the neighborhood to see if I could find the truck again. Hopefully to get a visual on the rear license plate. No luck. They must have immediately headed down the hill and out of our neighborhood. This was definitely abnormal activity around here. I called it in to the police. Closed the steel gate in our driveway, then parked my car across the driveway sideways. Just incase they decided to come back at 3 AM. Next day (today) I went out to fire up my ATV for snow removal. I found a cheap vehicle tow/recovery strap wrapped around my front snow blade. Someone had it wrapped up ready to tow my ATV away, stealing it. I was convinced it was the black Dodge truck from last night that arrived at 10PM. Likely to winch my ATV up into the back of their truck. Yet luckily we were home, saw them, and they made the quick exit out of my driveway. Back to the security camera recordings we went. When did the tow strap get placed on my ATV? We viewed all the recorded footage. The thieves must have scouted the neighborhood earlier. They likely saw my ATV. The camera reveled that at 8:30 PM last night while we had family over for dinner, a black Dodge truck stopped on the road in front of our home. Someone got out of the truck. The person hugged trees and a surrounding car, to avoid detection. They attached the tow strap to my ATV. Then got back in their truck and drove away. We were all at the back side of our house at the dinner table. Socializing and laughing. Unaware. The culprit came back an hour and a half later to steal my ATV. We ruined those plans. Stay sharp folks! For your viewing pleasure my camera go this last night: Then this is what I found this morning:

Keep in mimd, for use in a truck the 4 or 5 speed is not designed to give you more top end speed. It is likely built for lower, and lower again, gears below first. For transporting heavy loads. In a car you might start in 3rd, ending in 5th. Yet you may still be wanting for more gears. Yet if you want to pull stumps…Double aught gears below first might prove their worth! Lol.

In this photo we see my 1938 Plymouth sedan. Aside from the motor mount difference, it will be almost the same as your 1937. I have the rear of the engine blocked up and supported while I am replacing the rear motor mounts. Will the car's right hand main frame be in the way of the bell housing shown in your photo? I suspect so.

With shifter seen here:

For me, the large bell housing raises concerns about fitment in a '37 sedan. The Tranny looks physically larger as well. More robust for heavier payload? Was the truck tranny a 4 speed? The stock 37 was a 3 speed. The tunnel around the tranny and firewall may be smaller in a sedan versus a truck. Fitment might be a real issue. For comparison here is my 38 sedan tranny. Very similar to a '37 except for the park brake lever.

Fantastic model of the RMS QE ship!

No wax job. I think she's just happy to be out of the garage. Perhaps the diffused light and the snow brings out her good side.

Just outside Winnipeg. Very cool. I'm guessing if you keep your eyes peeled on Facebook Marketplace, Kijiji and Craigslist, you'll have plenty of opportunities to acquire a nice collection of used parts. Out there on the lone prairie I tend to think folks had room to just park them when they died. Easier to just lay it out back until some time in the future. It cost too much to haul it so many miles to town to the steel recycler. I suspect the truck transmissions would be geared quite low to accommodate the expected larger payload. Keep your eyes peeled for a nice 3 speed floor shift manual. My '38 stock 3 speed has no problem with the 236 ci 25" block in front of it. OD would be a very nice feature with your 251 ci engine turning it. Very nice. Keep a sharp eye! A little background on the car year. I believe '37 stock tranny would have have a tall lever in the floor enter. To pull-on and activate the park brake. The '38 year used a pistol grip park brake lever up under the dash. It pulled a cable to activate the park brake. What does your Dodge have currently? If your headlights are mounted to the inner aprons of the fenders, it should be a '38. I think this is what yours has. Hard to be 100% sure with the snow there.

By the Christmas holidays our daily drivers are due for some type of scheduled maintenance. So we must shuffle cars around in the garage to make room for oil changes etc on our daily cars. Its too cold and snowy to work outside. Therefore my ‘38 Plymouth gets flashed up and sent outside. Typically for a few days is all. She fired right up. I ran her for 30 mins and got the oil good and hot. Then I shut her down. It warmed up to only -20c this morning. So its not too bad. It was -33C yesterday. Hopefully she’ll fire up tomorrow. Lol. My sons are home for Christmas so we can always push her back into the garage. Antifreeze is good! Its the oil viscosity that will likely thwart any starting attempts tomorrow.