First Mopar ever and a 318 question!!
Oh man, with a name like that you'll get some ribbing for sure. Welcome aboard. The cylinders are 1357 fan to driver on the driver side (left side in Moparspeak, as viewed from the back) and 2468 on the passenger right side.
You can drop the distributor in 180 out (or *** backwards) and it might even run really bad. Best thing to do from the start is he may have the 273 or 318 damper and it may be a later 318 that is actually marked on the other side of the timing case. Here is what you can try. Pull the cap and note where #1 wire is and the #1 plug. Bump the big battery lug on the firewall to the threaded lug right next to it with a screwdriver, this'll bump the starter and rotate the motor. Put your thumb OVER the spark plug hole and keep bumping until you get a strong blow by past your thumb. you are now deep into the compression stroke. Look at your damper and if the line is coming up (to the left of the stationary marker) to TDC or 0 keep bumping the starter until you are just before TDC or as close as you can get within 5 degrees either way. 
Now look at your rotor. It should be pointing at the #1 tower, (roughly toward the front driver intake bolt if its per the book) NOT #6. If its on #6, pull and drop back in so it points to #1. You want the plug to fire just before TDC. You can rotate your distributor to fine tune this. put back together and try to start. This should get your motor to fire good enough to idle and time with a gun. You can set your idle a little high and unplug your vacuum advance while you time it. Just keep it under 1200 as to minimize the mechanical advance.
Oh man, with a name like that you'll get some ribbing for sure. Welcome aboard. The cylinders are 1357 fan to driver on the driver side (left side in Moparspeak, as viewed from the back) and 2468 on the passenger right side.
You can drop the distributor in 180 out (or *** backwards) and it might even run really bad. Best thing to do from the start is he may have the 273 or 318 damper and it may be a later 318 that is actually marked on the other side of the timing case. Here is what you can try. Pull the cap and note where #1 wire is and the #1 plug. Bump the big battery lug on the firewall to the threaded lug right next to it with a screwdriver, this'll bump the starter and rotate the motor. Put your thumb OVER the spark plug hole and keep bumping until you get a strong blow by past your thumb. you are now deep into the compression stroke. Look at your damper and if the line is coming up (to the left of the stationary marker) to TDC or 0 keep bumping the starter until you are just before TDC or as close as you can get within 5 degrees either way. Now look at your rotor. It should be pointing at the #1 tower, (roughly toward the front driver intake bolt if its per the book) NOT #6. If its on #6, pull and drop back in so it points to #1. You want the plug to fire just before TDC. You can rotate your distributor to fine tune this. put back together and try to start. This should get your motor to fire good enough to idle and time with a gun. You can set your idle a little high and unplug your vacuum advance while you time it. Just keep it under 1200 as to minimize the mechanical advance.