exactly my only point.... why go pulling the distributor and play with the drive gear when there is no need for it. he says he has spark at the plugs and it has already been brought up to TDC.
I guess the point I was trying to make....... is that yes you can put the distributer just about any place you want, and it will run(I've done it) with a light on it (a dial back showes this well) when you crank the distributer around to the initial advance you want and it dies , or run's real rough, and the dial back show's 25 degrees at idle and 55 degrees at 2000 rpm, it kinda gives you a feeling that just because it may run with the rotor pointed at the rignt rear tire for #1 don't make it right.
If you're having trouble with something, the easiest course of action is NOT to reinvent the wheel to try to fix it if known, reliable, repeatable, methods already exist.