Reread #18
There are about 18 teeth on that oilpump drive ( I actually forget how many exactly), and so there are 18 different positions that you can put the rotor. But when you pull up that shaft,turn it one tooth,and then try to drop it back down, it hangs up on the top of the oilpump, which does not have 18 corresponding flats. In order for the drive to re-enter the pump, the cam has to be rotated, while simultaneously pushing down on the drive. Since the cam is chained to the crank, you have to turn the crank. Then,POP!, down it goes . Then, as TrailBeast said, you just back up the crank, back to TDC, and verify that the rotor is where you want it to be.
If it is not, then you start over.
Without a helper, this is easiest to accomplish by bumping the engine over with the starter using a remote starter tool.
If you get lost, just put the engine back to TDC #1, on compression.
There is one very good reason to line it up per the factory way; the distributor has a very limited range of turning, before the vacuum advance can hits either the firewall or the coil. So with the rotor correctly oriented, and a reluctor tooth aligned with the magnetic trigger, then the rotor will align under #1 tower,if so marked, and then the factory wires all fit. The rotor can be in any other position, which is OK, and can be made to work, but then the wires may not all fit. That is the big reason to set it up per the factory way; so the factory wires fit.Well that, and so the next guy to take the cap off doesn't freak!lol
