looking at the distributor cap of a 76 Dart with a S6. No wires on it.
I can't move the crank - no starter, no crank bolt. The "advance bell" is at 4 oclock. There is a tower at 12 and a six oclock, then the others are equally space (of course).

Which is #1? I say the one nearest the bell, at 4 oclock.

Am I correct? anyone have a picture?

thanks

Without pics, this will be fun, but...if the distributor is installed correctly...the vacc. advance "pod"/bell should be about 4-5 o' clock. The tower between this pod and the "tab" on the distributor/advance flange that engages the "notch" in the cap 'should be' #1.

-D.Idiot

It doesn't matter which post on the distributor cap is #1 - as long as the rotor points to #1 when cyl #1 is at TDC compression and the plug wires are installed in the right order going around the cap. Well, it may matter for plug wire routing / length but usually they are plenty long enough.

Edit: Sorry, I thought this was a hypothetical - If you just took the cap off and left everything as is then yea you'd want it back the way it was. Whose to say it was in the stock way to begin with though?

I don't have my reference picts, as the computer crashed. Now I'm assembling things, and don't know for sure where 1 is.

I cant bump the starter to move the timing mark to TDC and there is no crank bolt to turn either.

So....Based on stock, with the dist. in the correct way, advance unit at 4 oclock.; #1 should be at 6 or 4 oclock....certainly not 2, 12, 7 or 10 oclock.

Seems like 4 oclock is the best guess....

Normal plug wire placement on a slant six distributor:



Here is where the rotor in my brother's 74 Duster points when the engine is at TDC and the base timing is roughly 10 BTDC:



However, as has been pointed out the location of the rotor and the placement of the plug wires on the cap is entirely arbitrary, so long as the firing order is correct and the rotor points at the #1 plug tower when the engine is at TDC on the compression stroke on #1.

Try turning the motor over using the fan and the belts.

The usual way in these circumstances is to screw 2 bolts (or 3 if you want) into the puller bolt holes on the balancer, then use a bar between them to turn the engine. Very simple.

yes...you're right. Sometimes the old brain freezes....