Mike, pull the plugs, put your thumb over the #1 plug hole while someone turns the engine over slowly BY HAND. When you feel pressure escaping from the cylinder, start watching the pointer and TDC mark on your balancer or wherever the reference mark is on your Pinto. You're coming up on the compression stroke and when the pointer and mark are aligned you're very close to TDC, unless you've done something to the cam/crank timing gears or chain. When you're there, trace the #1 plug wire to the distributor cap, mark the side of the housing where the #1 tower is, pull the cap and see if your rotor tip is pointed at or near it. If it's not, chances are the distributor needs to be lifted, rotated and set back in to align things. Put it all back together and hit the key, leaving the distributor snug but movable to make a quick timing adjustment as soon as it starts to keep it running until you can do an accurate timing set. You may have to rotate the distributor a small amount back and forth to get it fired, but not much.
Uuummmm, don't lean over the carb, if the timing is far off you could singe things.....
Good Luck, Larry