gravdigr's right. I just put mine back together 180* out and it would just backfire gas up out of the carb every few strokes.
You can check TDC by yourself by taking out the #1 plug and pushing a large plastic bag in just a little (a half inch or so). When you turn the pulley and the #1 cylinder is on the compression stroke, the bag will come flying out if you pushed it in enough. You should at least hear "psssss". I've heard to use a tissue or something, but I couldn't get that to work so I used a newspaper bag. Just make sure to use a fairly large bag so it doesn't get sucked into the cylinder as you crank it around. When you find TDC, check your timing mark on your harmonic balancer to see if it's right.
With #1 at TDC, drop in the dist with the rotor facing toward the front. Make sure it drops in all the way flush with the intake manifold. If it drops in, but still isn't facing exactly right, you can "walk it over" by pulling the dist up just past where the teeth engage, rotate it one tooth over and drop it back in. That will move the oil pump so the dist will still drop in.
Then put your cap down trying to estimate the number of degrees you want to advance it (rotate cap counter clockwise). Hook up the wires and it should fire right up.
If it still doesn't fire, back up and make sure you are getting spark by pulling a plug, putting it back in the wire, ground the top against a header or the block, and have someone turn the truck over. Be careful doing that though. You don't want to get zapped by your ignition.
HTH. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
