okay this is my first time removing a distributor so take it easy on me. lol

i took my distributor out and i put the engine at TDC and all that, i got the distributor back in with the rotor in the right place. butnow what i wasn't expecting was the rest of the distibutor to be free spinning untill it is clamped down. how do i know where it needs to go? obviously cylinder # 1's sparkplug wire needs to be forward but is there anything a little more reliable to tell if it in the correct spot?



oh the car is a 89 gta 350 tpi

 

You need to be sure that the #1 cylinder is on the compression stroke when you bring it to TDC. Just put the dist in so that the rotor ends up pointing to the #1 plug wire post on the cap. You may have to take a screwdriver and move the oil pump drive shaft around so that it will line up with the dist, otherwise the dist wont go all the way in. That should get you plenty close enough to get it to start.

 

well i was looking at it and i found the 2 clean spots wre the clap use to hold it down so i figured i would start there, and see how it goes

 

wel i got everything back together, but it wont start. i'm pretty sure it's the dizzy

when i took the distrbutor out i put it at TDC and was on the 0* mark on the dampener, and the rotor was pointing at the 6 O-clock postion. and when i reinstalled it i put it right back were it was, it's pretty noticable if i was 1 tooth off. but the dizzy should have the #1 cylinder at ~5 O-clock.


so what i'm thinking is sometime it's life somone put the rotor in 1-2 teeth off and they just shifted the rest of the dizzy to compensate. i didn't look at it really before i took it off so i cant say for sure. anyone think this is a possabiity?

 

i think your distributor is 180* out

 

how could it? it was reinstalled exactly how it came out. the only problem i see is that at TDC it is pointing at the 6 o-clock position and not 5 o-clock

 

sweet moved it 2 teeth over and fired up the second try, the first time the coil wasn't connected