bot car al apart. where should no 1 plug be on dizzy cap in relalation to dizzy screw on driver side of motor?

 

Where does the rotor point when #1 is at top dead center?

 

what im asking is where is no 1 post on cap?

 

diz iz loose and no wires attached to it.

 

What Drew is saying (and what I was thinking as this thread loaded) is it doesn't matter. You put the #1 cylinder in the TDC firing position, and wherever the rotor is pointing at that time, that's where you put the #1 spark plug wire. Then, clockwise, it's 8, 4, 3, 6, 5, 7, & 2.

 

tdc is " 0 " on crank rite?

 

Pull the #1 plug. Put your thumb over the plug hole and turn the engine... When the timing marker on the balancer comes toward the timing tab you'll either feel pressure or you wont. If you feel pressure, stop at 0*. If you don't feel pressure, turn it another full turn (360*) and stop at 0*. At that point you can drop your distributor with the rotor pointing at cylinder #1. The tower on the cap that corresponds to the rotor's position is #1.

It generally doesn't matter where the distributor/rotor is clocked as long as the plugs are lined up and there's no physical interference (vacuum advance or ignition module into the firewall or intake). Some EFI cars might get a little pissed if the rotor isn't positioned correctly, but most of the time it shouldn't really matter.

 

yep did that . put it back together all it does is a big bang.

 

If it's backfiring, with the distributor positioned right, firing order right, and so on, try rotating the distributor (not the rotor) and try it. It's pretty straight forward, if you set it up right it'll usually fire on the first turn of the key.

 

The correct factory location of # 1 on an SBC is 5 oclock, with 12 o'clock being the firewall. At 5oclock position,the rotor points roughly at the #1 cylinder (driver side front cylinder). That is only half the battle. You have to get the # 1 piston at TCD of Compression stroke (piston at top and both valves closed), then put the distributor in so the the rotor points in the desired location of #1 on the cap.

What everyone is saying is that you technically can put # 1 anywhere and wire accordingly. This will work, however the trick is to get the distributor cap and rotor pointing at the same spot exactly when the #1 piston is a TDC Compression and then wire from there in a clockwise direction in the firing order 1-8-4-3-6-5-7-2. I mark my cap and distributor body with a Sharpie and then drop the distributor in so that the rotor lines up with the Sharpie mark with #1 @ TDC Compression. I try to use the 5 o'clock position, only because it can create confusion if someone other than you works on the car and expects #1 in the "normal" position and it is 2 or 3 posts out of place.

On an HEI, once you get the distributor in place, a quick way to insure a quick start is to look at the 8 points on the pickup coil and align them with the 8 points on the distributor shaft. A spark is created every time these 8 points align, so the distributor fires 8 times per revolution of the distributor and 4 times per crank revolution. If you have the # 1 cylinder at TDC Compression, rotor and cap terminal for #1 aligned, the points of the reluctor and shaft aligned, and wire in in the proper firing order and direction, it should fire up. Then set the timing with a timing light and lock the distributor down.

 

it might also be intake valves too tight and not seating all the way back up so theres gaps for the pressure and firing to escape if its backfiring through the carb...