car acts like it wants to fire up, but once i let off the starter it dies. The top plugs get soked in gas, and the lower ones look fine. any ideas on where to start my surch?

 

The top plugs are the trailing plugs and are triggered by the ignition module on the rear of the distributor. Either that module has gone bad, or your trailing coil, which is the one closest to the front of the car on the driver's side fenderwell.

 

advance your timing 7*