Distributor/ignition problems

[nad]

Okay, so I had an oil leak from my distributor gasket, so I decided to change it. Well I changed it out, put the distributor back on, and now it won't fire. The first time when I changed my intake gasket, I put the distributor back on and it worked just fine.

Well I've been reading about finding top dead center, but I have no idea how, or what exactly is required to find it. I read that I was supposed to mark the locations before taking the distributor off, but it's way too late for that now

Can someone explain to me what the easiest and quickest way to get the timing straightened out so I can get it running again?

I feel really dumb that I did this, but it worked fine the last time I did it, but I guess I just got lucky. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you all very much for your help in advance.

 

[nad]

Anyone have any suggestions as of what I should do? I'd like to fix this problem as soon as I can.

 

[nad]

Ttt

 

[mofugly13]

Do you have a shop manual? That'll tell you how to find TDC on the #1 cylinder. Or, you could try a search, ton's of guys have puttheir dizzy in 180* out, and there has been plenty of info posted on finding TDC.

 

[dontoe]

The very first step has to be to determine if the piston is all the way
up on the compression stoke. If it's up on the exhaust stroke, you'll be
exactly 180 degrees (cam/distributor) off.

There are 3 ways to do this:

1) Find #1 plug wire on the distributor cap. Mark the #1 terminal
location on the distributor base. Pull the cap. Rotate the crank in the
direction of rotation until the rotor points to the mark.

2) Pull the #1 valve cover. Ensure that both valves on #1 are closed.
3) Put your finger or a piece of tissue over the #1 plug hole. Rotate
the crank until pressure is obvious.

 

[broncoman6524]

How i did it is

Turn the motor over manually until, on the flywheel theres a line, line that up at 0 degrees by the indicator (on timing cover). (if that makes any sense)

then pull the cap off the dist. and set the Rotor pointing to the #1 cylinder (Front Left) just stick it in the hole...lol... till it's at the right direction. (pointing at #1 cylinder)

It *should* fire then, but you still gotta time it.

 

[NEWMEXICOK5]

take the distributer out and turn it so the rotor point the oppisite way, if you didnt turn the crank when you changed the gasket chances are you are just 180 deg. out