Correct initial position for distributor

The deal is the distributor drive gear (intermediate shaft) may or may not be in "right" but it does not matter.

Pull no1 plug. Bump the engine with a finger in the no1 hole until you BEGIN to feel compression. Now watch the marks coming up, and bump/ wrench the engine NOT to TDC but rather where you want initial timing, AKA say, 12BTC on the marks.

Now drop the dist in, and if the rotor is nowhere near the diagram, turn it around. It may or may not be "right" due to the gear I mentioned, or because some distributors have different rotor orientaton re: the drive tang. Does not matter.

Now rotate the dist retarded (CW) and slowly bring it back advanced (CCW) until either the points open, or the breakerless reluctor tip is centered in the pickup coil. Now snug the bolt down "a little bit" so it stays there but hopefully you can still move it.

Now relate the rotor to whichever plug tower in the cap that the rotor tip is approaching going CW and drop the no1 wire in that hole.

It should start just like that

Once you learn this, you can start the thing right up as if it had been parked the night before