I have a little problem here. I took my distributor out and didn't mark where it is supposed to go. Now I don't know how to put it back in the right way. Can someone please help me out so I can get my car on the road?
Btw. I have a 305 TPI if you need to know.

 

turn the crank till the timing mark lines up at 0* and both valves are closed on #1. set the rotor to point to the #1 post on the distributor cap and reinstall distributor.

 

Yep, dats da way...

 

ege hit the nail right on the head. what you are doing is putting your engine at TDC(top dead center) this is where the number 1 piston is at its max lift. if you cannot or do not want to pull the valve cover to confirm the valves are closed then you can do it another way. pull the #1 plug and put the finger over the hole. turn the engine over by hand and feel for air being forced out. when you feel and hear air, then you know your on the compression stroke. keep turning it now until the timing line lines up at 0 degrees. that is TDC. now you can install the dist. rememebr though as you gently push the dist down and the gears mesh, the rotor will turn slightly. you have to compensate for this by setting the rotor to point a little before the #1 post. that way there, once the dist is fully seated, the rotor lines up almost pefect with the #1 post. also, you may have to stick a long screwdriver down inside the engine and turn the oil pump slightly so that the bottom of the dist gear lines up too. youl see what I mean when you look at the bottom of the dist. use a flash light to see inside the engine and dont drop the screwdriver in. tie a string to it. once you get this all set, your gonna have to advance the timing very slighty to help the engine turn over. once it started then adjust the timing to your specs.

oh ya, have a blast trying to manually turn your engine with the plugs in. your gonna need a friend to hep you turn it while you have you finger on the plughole.you can bump start it to get it close but your gonna still end up turning it by hand somewhere/

 

Thanks for the help guys. I did everything and it worked. The only thing now is when I start it, it runs but there is a misfire. I have one of those old timing lights with the spring. I put it on the number one plug and it lights up a couple of times at first, but then it doesn't light up anymore. It just keeps misfiring.
Right now I am going to try and play with the distributor and see if maybe the timing is way off????

Bottlefed: I did everything by myself. I layed under the car with my finger in the hole and turned the engine with the other hand.

 

well I am going to try and do this all over and see if it works.

 

no problem on the help. make sure you have all th plug wires fully seated and try and get a real timing light.

 

I did what the book said first and it said to line up the distributo between the 1 and 8 plugs. After I dropped it in, The rotor was pointing strait toward the front of the engine. So after it is installed, it should really be pointing toward number one on the cap? Oh and one other question... TDC is middle of the biggest valley on the balancer right? All of the marks are rusted off.
Thanks again.

Oh yeah, is there an easier way to put the hold down bolt in? There are a bunch of wiring harnesses and stuff in the way. It takes me about 15 minutes to get it in the hole. Its hard to get my fingers in there.

 

3rd 86,

Yes.

Yes.

No. (Fun, isn't it?)

 

Alright my distributor is in and my car runs. I don't know what I would do with out your guys' help. Thanks a lot.

Now I can go find my oil leak.