so I removed my dist and the heads and blah blah put everything back to gather, pretty sure I did it correctly but when I went to start it it would just crank and crank and crank, never start. would have a back fire here or there but hardly any.

I was thinkin I need to turnt he dist 180 degrees... so the question is, am I right?

 

The correct way is to find TDC on #1, put the #1 plug wire on the closest tower to where the rotor is facing, install the rest of the wires in a clockwise fashion in correct order, (1-8-4-3-6-5-7-2). You should be golden if you've ruled out the other 90000 things that could be preventing your engine from starting/running.

 

No.....

The CORRECT WAY is to find #1 FIRING. There are 2 instances of #1 TDC; firing of course, and also the one where the exh valve is closing as the piston approaches the top, and the int valve opens as the piston passes the top and starts to go back down. At that instant, it's #6 firing.

The CORRECT way to properly locate the dist is to observe the #6 exh valve as you turn the motor; as it passes through full open and begins to close, watch for TDC approaching, and stop about 10 - 15° before you get there. At that time, look down into the dist hole, and with a large screwdriver or something, turn the oil pump rod until the slot is around 35 - 40° from straight front-to-back, going from driver's side front to pass side rear. Drop the dist in with the body where it needs to go (vacuum can between the valve cover & intake), with the rotor pointing about 15° to the front of straight to the left. The #1 plug wire will be in the factory location, where the plug wires fit the best and make the least of a rat's nest; #1 just barely to the driver's side of straight to the front.

Set the motor EXACTLY like that, drop in the dist EXACTLY like that, shoot some gas into the intake, reach in the window and fire it up INSTANTLY.

 

Sofa thanks for that detailed description of dist installation. Perfect timing (hmm pun) as I'm about to do a first time cam install (I'm using a ZZ9). Now let me follow on with this - will the engine run with the stock tune? I'm adding alum 2.02/1.60 heads at the same time with a ported TPI. Newish 24# and new fuel pump too. I will tune next but I'm not sure if it will at least be driveable. Thx for comments.