Stupid dist. question

[Crimson Thunder]

Where on the distributor should the #1 spark plug wire be?I'm still semi-homeless(come on and get here May 30) and all my reference books and tools are in storage.I used my father-in-laws timing light today and it showed 20 deg. initial and 32 deg total at 3000rpm.My #1 spark plug wire was at the 12:00 position.I always thought it should be around the 8-9:00.My tach drive is in the front where it should be so i don't think it is off a tooth.Looks like i have some investigating to do tomorrow.

 

[6880 Mike]

#1 could vary depending on how the distributor is indexed. Tach drive should be at the rear. AIM shows correct installation, orientation, and factory stake marks. Sounds like your distributor had been turned 180 degrees.

 

[melsy]

Mike is right. Tach Drive to the rear and #1 wire front, or there abouts.

 

[Vettehead Mikey]

It makes no difference where #1 plug wire is, as along as the rotor is pointing at the correct wire at the correct time.

To reset your '#1' to the desired location, you'd have to remove the distributor to reindex the rotor and move every one of the spark plugs to match. Final timing would still need to be set by fine adjustment of the dizzy housing.

Net gain= zero.

 

[Crimson Thunder]

Thanks for your replies.The previous owner had a little "bubba" in him so when i see something unusual i get a little nervous.I think i'm going to go ahead and get rid of the Mallory Unilite that came on the car and rebuild the stock dist.to get back the vacuum advance that the Mallory doesn't have.I hope ill get a little better part throttle response and a gas mileage increase as a bonus.

 

[BarryK]

Mikey is correct that #1 can be anyway as long as you set it up correctly but if you are going to switch back to your original points type distributor than here is the factory "normal" indexing positions

The first pic is not from a corvette but the indexing is the same:

This is a diagram from the back side. The ignition wire holders are set-up for a C2 but the important part of the image is the drawing of the distributor cap showing the indexing. The rectangular portion in the front is the little window that opens up to adjust dwell so you can see the reference of the indexing of the wires on the cap