Please help, I've never been stumped like this

[Erik the Awful]

If you look at the gear on the distributor, the rolled pin that holds the gear in place goes through the peak of one tooth and the valley of the one on the other side. If I remember correctly, but I could be wrong. Theoretically even if you put the distributor in the exact same position as you took it out you could still be off. It's just worth double checking the actual cam angle correlation (timing)

Good catch, but that would only be relevant if the distributor weren't adjustable. Because you can turn the distributor body in relation to the gear, being half a tooth off isn't a contributing factor.

 

[Mark Gilbert]

Good catch, but that would only be relevant if the distributor weren't adjustable. Because you can turn the distributor body in relation to the gear, being half a tooth off isn't a contributing factor.

I agree, unless you are just marking the location when you remove it and then re-installing it in the same location without turning the motor. Just trying to say that you can't use that short cut to re-install the distributor and it will need to be installed properly.

 

[Erik the Awful]

The rotor should be marked in relation to the distributor housing. If that's done, gear position makes absolutely no difference. I can spin the distributor in my big-block Cadillac a full 360 degrees and clock it at any angle I want. The only thing that matters is rotor position relative to the distributor housing. I can even put the plug wires wherever I want so long as I stab it with the rotor close to whichever cylinder is at TDC. After years of working on cars with distributors that were locked to a narrow timing window, that was a eureka moment for me.

That said, you do have a point. If the OP marked the rotor's location in relation to the housing, and then marked the housing relative to the block, the gear position would make it where he wouldn't be able to exactly hit one or the other of the marks.

Check the engine ground just on the lower passenger side of the timing chain. If it's not bolted down, it may be making enough contact to start, then vibrating and stalling your engine out.