Heres what I do and it works every time. Take out the spark plug for the number one cylinder. Get a paper towel. Tear the paper towel in half. Shove the paper towel in the spark plug hole so that it is tight, kind of like a cork. Do not shove the towel into the cylinder, just into the spark plug hole until it is jammed packed in there. Slowly turn the motor over. When the engine is around TDC, the paper towel will shoot out of the plug hole.
You are now on or very close to TDC. Now insert the distributor so that the rotor point is over cylinder one on the cap. If the distributor does not go all the way down, get a long screwdriver and turn the oil pump shaft until the distributor will go all the way down. If the distributor is down, and the rotor pointing to number one on the cap, you should be good to go!
I have done this a bunch of times on my Chevy 350. Not sure what you have, but I bet it would work just the same on a stovebolt. It may not be the most professional thing to do, but it works and its always fun to see that paper towel shoot out. I'm curious to hear what other stovebolters think about this method...
Last edited by REAL_RAT_FINK; 05/03/2010 10:44 PM.
