But the distributor does sort of care though. You are right of course that theoretically, you can wire them any way you want, the distributor does not care where it fires No. 1, but ignoring the orientation of the distributor is a mistake. You want to get the distributor in so that the grease cup and negative coil wire are set up on the left side and accessible, and the spring clips that hold the cap on are all accessible and allow them to be unclipped without interference, and that the location for the No. 1 plug wire does not make the rest of the cap wiring unwieldy. I have reference manuals and a Thexton tool from the 50s that sets the negative coil wire up at about the 7 o'clock position give or take a little, with the No. 1 wire at about the 6 o'clock position. So if you intend to set up the plug wires in that manner, a sort of traditional manner, you would install the cap on the bench and mark the body of the distributor under the wire at that position. I tend to set my No. 1 cap wire one over so at about the 4 o'clock position (negative coil wire still at around 7 o'clock) so I mark mine at that point (on the bench) and then when I install the distributor, it goes in with No. 1 set exactly where I want it and at tdc or very very close to tdc. Then there is no real fussing with the orientation or the start up. You can get to the grease cup, the negative coil wire, and the retaining clips can be unclipped from the cap without any interference from the side plate. I noted to use chalk, for my own motors I use a paint marker. From that point on, you can use that mark as a static non-running reference for checking that tdc has remained tdc or if you ever have to remove it, you can reinstall it exactly where it needs to be installed, no fuss no muss. If you want to mark the body for some advance or retarded timing, you can use the octane selector plate, move the distributor to what ever you want, 2 degrees advance or retard, 5 degrees, or 10 degrees max, mark the body, and from that point you can use those marks as a static sort of method for dialing in what you want. That way, if you don't have a dial back timing light, you can put in a little advance or retard based on some known scale (the octane selector plate) as opposed to just guessing. Yep, its a little backyard but lots of guys don't have a dial back light so this is a way to obtain a little precision.
