ok to start off, i have a 1988 buick regal limited with 190k miles and not even a tick/knock in the motor, runs great well it did.... well first problem, the car became real gutless and was missing kinda bad didnt have no power to go up a little hill, so first thing i think is sparkplugs got fouled.. so i went to replace those. I got them all in but the last one and i striped the threads!!! So it sat for about 3-4 weeks, well i got a rethread kit and fixed it, went to start it and it backfired through the intake out the throttle body and it even blew one of the vac hoes off on the throttle body, ok that was odd.. found a crossed wire and i havent noticed a backfire YET. ok now it just wont start at all, it turns over but no start and yes its getting fuel... but now i hear a electrical tick when trying to start the car.. so what the heck do i check for now... kinda want to get this car running soon.

A few ideas:

I suspect the ticking sound you hear is the spark being diverted from the spark plugs. If it has a distributor check and double check the coil wire, if it has three big coils down on the engine check for bad plug wires.

If you can, have someone crank it at night and watch the coil wire, you''ll probably see where the arcing is happening. Check for spark at the spark plug wires. Double check cap and rotor. Did you forget to replace the rotor?