no-start after washing engine bay

[Brett Dikeman]

Okay, so I washed the engine bay today with P21S wash (not wheel  
cleaner, it's this sort of orange stuff) and lightly rinsed it.  Did  
so with the engine warm, specifically to help dry it out if water got  
anywhere it shouldn't (it's happened before.)

Get in, turn the key, no start.  I hear a nice BOOF, then the starter  
struggles to keep the engine spinning for a second.  Whipped out the  
leaf blower, went over everything, especially ignition components.   
Nothing.  Same result.

Tried an hour or two later.  Puttered for a couple seconds, and like  
an idiot I switched it off...won't restart.

Tried again just a little while ago (over 6 hours later), same  
thing.  Turns over, no ignition, BOOF!, starter struggles for a bit,  
back to turning over.

I did discover the distributor clip had popped off, but replaced it  
after the 1st start attempt.

Any ideas?  I've had no-starts after washing, but this is the first  
time I've gotten the mini-'backfire' et al...and where it hasn't  
started up after a couple hours.

Brett