Advice Needed - Can't Start Rebuilt 273

I had this problem a few years back. What I did was pull #1 plug got a heliarc welding rod about 2 feet log and dropped it down the spark plug hole. Took off the valve cover over #1 cylinder. Marked #1 tower on dist body and took off the dist cap. Slowly cranked the engine over untill the rod would push up and then just start to fall and the intake valve was closed. Would turn the engine back wards just a touch so the rod would just fall again. This put me a hair in front of TDC. Reinstalled the dist until the rotor was pointing at the mark for #1 tower. Put it all back together and it fired. Then just did minor timing adjust. Works every time.