She started!!!
The new battery did the trick (as well as some more timing tweaking) and we drove her round the block a bit, but the car is very pap and is lazy to rev, so its probably the timing and mixture that are wrong. Sooooooooooooo, going to buy the new cam because mine is worn out of spec and then adjust the lifters and get the mixture and timing done properly.
There was a liiiiiiiiiiiiitle snag though. The water return pipe out of the head that goes to the cold start valve sprung a leak. Not the pipe itself, but the aluminum spigot that sits right up against the firewall. I'ts tighter in there than a sixteen year old's hoohaa, so going to see if I can pratleys putty the bugger before I strip everything off to replace the part.
I also washed the car, but she's in need of a serious buff!