Ok,just put the crankshaft at the 12 o clock position and the cam at the 6 o clock or 12 o clock position and all is good,pull the #1 spark plug and spin that puppie over with your finger in the hole......when you feel the compression,stop and spin it the rest of the way till the harmonic balancer lines up with the pointer on the timing cover........drop the distribtor intermediate shaft in so that the rotor button will point on the #1 cylinder on the engine block,then install the distributor and set it to where it has the points about to open and wire it up from there...it'll fire right up the first time.I might have been wrong with what I posted about the 6 or 12 position and some might have said or done the same thing,nobody here is trying to lead you wrong,half of us get confused typing what we know(meee)if it back fires thru the carb it's 180* out,just pull the distributor and rotate the rotor button 180* and it'll be purrin like a kitten and #1 will be pointin to #1,it's been a while since I had one in my face but I alway's did it at 6 and 12 with the balancer lined up with the pointer and the rotor pointin to #1 and no problem,bottom line........6 and 12 or 12 and 12 and you can button up the engine.intermediate shaft can be turned to line up with # 1 on the compression stroke and it'll be right....anyone disagree?
