if you're curious what happened...

i sold the car as a non-working lemon.

got 450 for it.

new owner got it to start btw:

changed crankshaft position sensor (even though i had a new one in...)

adjusted distributor timing, he said it was off by one tooth. (i dont know how i could've missed this because i put engine on top dead center - for sure - and had distributor rotor recognize cylinder one as directed earlier in this post).

anyways... vehicle works now. hope this helps someone else who reads this and has same problem.