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

So what he is saying is that on some Distributors the Rotor may not point straight ahead like it is "supposed to." The illustration in post #5 is where the Drive Gear should point. The Rotor should point straight ahead toward the front of the car. The Distributor is technically not correct if it points in another direction, but you can make it work. The plug wiring will be different though. Send us some pics