Dale,
To straighten out the distributor move each wire over to the left (counter clock wise) by one position. So pull number 5 wire and replace with number 1 now replace number 3 with number 5 and next number 6 with number 3, number 2 with number 6, number 4 with number 2 and lastly number 4 goes into the only remaining position. After all of this when you reset the timing you will end up having the vacuum units close to parallel to the engine.

Dale,

One of the important parts of setting the timing statically is is the instruction below from the original post I made...

"If the test light is on, or the voltmeter registers, turn the whole distributor CCW, until the light goes off. Then turn it back until it just lights. Tighten the distributor.

If the test light is off when you turn on the ignition, turn the distributor CW just until the light goes on or the meter registers. Tighten the distributor."

This will make sure that the points are just at the point of opening and firing the plug in relation to distrubutor rotation. The light should go out if you turn the distributor CCW. Do you have the light hooked up to the neg on the coil. That will be the the side where the wire goes into the distributor.

Thanks Art, that is exactly what I did the first
time and the car started easily and ran smoothly.
But the dizzy was at an odd angle.

So I ripped out everything again, refound my
#1 piston starting point and repeated everything
but the test light. Set the dizzy parallel as instructed,
installed the cap w/ new wire locations and this morning installed the valve cover.

Zip, nothing, nada, won't go. At parallel I get a fast spinning of the engine with no other sound. I tried
rotating the dizzy thru various angles.

A few pops and backfires here and there but nothing
close to actual starting.

At the extreme angle shown in the photo the car will
"Almost start". Many pops and backfires and I can feel detonation taking place. But the engine will not run.

I cannot rotate the dizzy any more into the engine block.
I ran out of room.

I'm unclear where to go from here. But it will have to wait
a while. My lower right arm is shredded and cut up pretty
good from forcing the engine to rotate by push/pull on the
fan blades.

But heck! I got almost 4 miles drive time on Thanksgiving day. The Crypt Car is back in his crypt it would seem.

Dale,

#1 wire was suppose to go into the hole #5 was in and then parralel distributor which should have brought your #1 back down to 3:00 O'Clock. Using your picture on the left and with out moving the distributor just pull out the #1 spark plug wire from the distributor cap and move clockwise down to the 3 O'Clock position. Then place the rest of the wires in their proper firing order from there. The number 1 wire will always need to be at the 3 O'Clock position just put it there when the distributor parallel and put the rest of your wires in in the proper firing order. I don't know how to add arrows and numbers to pictures. Maybe someone can do that and get Dale on the right track here.

Harry's right! Imagine leaving all the plug wires in their exact position in space, but rotate the cap (and the entire distributor) 1/6th turn clockwise, then reinsert the wires back into the cap.

Dale,

Move your distributor so that the vacuum advance canisters are parallel to the edge of the block and insert your plug wires so that they look like they do in the picture you posted in post 282685 - 11/21/06 08:05 AM. There should be no difference from this picture, except the vacuum advance canisters will be in a different place. You do not need to rotate the engine or anything like that to make this change. You moved the wires two holes, instead of one. hats why it took the extreme angle to get it to try to start. Number 1 wire should be at 3 o'clock.

Phil