how to tell if the distributor drive gear is installed correctly?

abodyjoe said
with #1 cyl at TDC on compression stroke.

View attachment 1716305292

This is ONLY and IF the rotor and the drive tang are in line.

99% of the time they are not.

Telling people to use the FSM and not telling them that it almost never works is not good.

I’m betting I have 30-40 distributors laying around and not one of them has the rotor lined up with the drive tang.