Today I decided to buy new spark plug wires and put them on. After I got done I started my car up and it sounded great. But when I put it in drive and gave it gas I would get around 5-8 backfires. I assumed I didn't push some them in all the way put they all were. So then I tried to rewire them on the distributor cap and messed it all up lol. So my question is what order do the wires go on the distributor cap? And maybe to why I was getting the backfires? Thanks

 

Oh and my engine is a 305.

 

If you're standing in front of your car looking toward the back, cylinder number one is the first on on your right. In other words, the forward driver side cylinder in #1. On the driver side, from front to back, the cylinder numbers are 1, 3, 5, 7. From front to rear on the passenger side, the cylinders are 2, 4, 6, 8. The wires go in this order:
1-8-4-3-6-5-7-2. #1 usually goes somewhere between the 3 and 5 o'clock position on the distributor (12 o'clock being the rear, 6 o'clock being the front). The wires go in counter-clockwise order.

 

This should help. If you need it again later on you can find it by Googling "firing order sbc."
Make sure to pull the wires where they attach so you don't pull the wire from the connector.
You should hear and feel a click when you push them back on.

 

Google is amazing!

 

Ahhh the good old days before the internet when we actually had to read books and find them with the dewey decimal system.

 

Wow I put them on going clockwise lol. I know the firing order but yea I was also wondering where number one went. I thought it was around the 5 o'clock position so that's what I went off of. Thanks you guys I appreciate it!

 

And this is one of the problems with this amazing thing, anyone can post uncertified information. The order IS clockwise. I figured you'd catch that with the diagrams.

 

Technically #1 can be anywhere on the distributor but the rotor must match up to the post for the #1 plug wire when it's suppose to fire as the piston comes to TDC on the compression stroke.

Since you never removed or turned the distributor, the rotor will still point to that 5 o'clock position for #1 cylinder.

Even installing the plug wires clockwise (correct direction of rotation) can still cause problems. The most common is getting #5 and #7 mixed up. The engine will still run but not very well and will backfire since those 2 cylinders are beside each other in the firing order.

 

I got the information from a cave drawing when I started working on cars.
Good ole Dewey, haven't heard from him in a loooong time, wonder what hes up too these days.

 

Yea I noticed it after I read them

 

Well actually I did replace the rotor and cap about a month ago. I'm going to go re check all the wires after I get off work though to make sure I got it right.

 

Alright you guys I rewired it and put number one in the five o'clock position and made sure all wires "clicked" in on both ends. She started right up and sounded beautiful! The backfiring stopped too. Thanks guys for all the help!

 

Rotor and cap replacement won't make a difference. The rotor will only go one one way. It's only when you pull the distributor that you need to make sure everything is in the proper position before dropping the distributor back in.

I'd start by checking the wires and make sure 5 and 7 are not mixed up.