To put my mind at ease is the correct orientation of the attached picture of my distributer? I brought the engine up to tdc on #6 and this is where it landed. About 10:00 / 10:30. o'clock. 3.4 engine. I'm confused by after looking through several other sites that say my orientation should be 1?

 

Having just installed one on my 2.4 MK2 the rotor arm should point at cylinder 6 (front of engine - radiator end) when cylinder 1 (rear of the engine - gearbox side) is on the firing stroke. As 1 and 6 are at TDC at the same time the easy way to check is remove the oil filler cap and when number 6 is at TDC and the cam is pushing on the valve then cylinder one is on the firing stroke.

 

 

I'll also put this as a reminder that the distributor rotor turns counter-clock-wise, so one doesn't get the firing order all screwed up.

 

Absolutely, & rotors should have an arrow on them but all don't.

 

His does too, now that I look at it.

 

Indeed it does. The rest is up to him to attach the wires to the correct terminals of the cap & double check them to achieve the correct firing order. We have provided all we can. I'm sure he can turn the engine to TDC on cyl 1 or 6. Screwdriver down a plug hole & observe the timing marks on the crank damper. If necessary he can remove a cam cover or oil cap to see valve position. Should not be necessary. Firing stroke both valves closed. I'm used to having a boroscope to take a peek! With backward looking head attached. (Olympus ~ I love Olympus steerable boroscopes. Dump pictures to SD cards).