Carb and distributor questions...help

[73 Mustang Boy]

I realy hate to be the bearer of bad news but the same thing happened to me about a year ago. car just stopped and wouldn't crank because the rotor was not turnning. I pulled the dist. out and found out that the shear pin that holds the gear on had broken. I thought simple and went to the patrs store and picked up a new gear and pin. When I put them on and tried to crank the car, it did the same thing again. Thats when I thought about the oil pump beeing locked up, it was. to change the oil pump you have to pick the engine up out of the car about 4 in. Once I got all that back together I cranked the car and it was making an awfull ticking noise from the dist. Thats when I figuured out that the gear on the cam had about 3 teeth broken off of it. So I had to order a new cam, wait for it to get there, then change it. I realy hope your case isn't as serious as mine but if it is at least you know to go ahead and change everything at once. Also rember that you can just buy the new gear and pin for the dist. dont waste $60 on a new dist if you can just spend 15 on the new gear. I hope I could help a little.