The distributor in my Twin Cam has a cap with screws rather than clips, and is oriented such that one screw is directly toward the head and the other is toward the side of the car. The one nearer the head is extremely difficult to access. No bent screwdriver, or even the smallest 90 deg. ratcheting one, can access it. There's just no room to turn it. I can reach it from above, through the gap between the intake for the no.1 and 2 cylinders, but due to the way the distributor is oriented outward at about 45 degrees from vertical to the block, it's not good. After only about 3 times taking the cap off, the screw is pretty buggered-up and I'm not sure it would make it through another try.
So my plan is to re-orient the distributor, and I just want to run my idea by y'all to make sure I'm thinking this through correctly.
I'm thinking: rotate the distributor body through 90 degrees (counter-clockwise, I envision). Leave the rotor in its current position. With firing order of 1,3,4,2, the wire that was in the 2 position has now rotated ccw such that it's in the former no. 1 position and the rest follow suit. So, change the wires so that what was no. 2 goes to cyl. no.1, 4 becomes no. 2, 3 becomes 4 and 1 becomes 3.
Then use a bulb to set approximate static timing so that the points just open for cyl. no. 1 at 5 deg BTDC, start it, and set the timing more precisely with a timing light.
I think this is right, unless someone can point out some error in my thinking. Agree?
Vince
