My 440 died yesterday, and I would like to avoid throwing parts at it

All you need to do is pull the number 1 plug. With the engine cold and the coil wire off have someone bump the starter with you holding your thumb in the plug hole on the head. You'll get pressure when it's coming up on the compression stroke if you don't bump too fast. Once you feel the pressure on your thumb you can manually advance the crank to get it on TDC (timing mark). Then you can check the position of the rotor. It's really pretty easy, if you go past TDC just keep bumping until you get to the next compression stroke.