HEI distributor install into 350. Which cylinder is #1 by the book?

I know I can basically chose what cylinder I want to be #1 on the distributor and just continue the firing order from there but I typically like to do it as the factory did. If nothing else I default to aiming the rotor towards the #1 cylinder. I had a quick look at my Chilton Manual and they show the #1 in a different place for the 300/340 than the 350 as well. I usually avoid using HEI distributors as I find them bulky and kind of ugly but they work pretty well and this is what I have. I am assuming the Vacuum advance aims about where I have it in the picture. If anyone has some insight I would appreciate it.
Greg

 

What I do is stick a wine cork in the number one plug hole, rotate the engine by hand till it pops out and then with the dist hold down bolt loose positioned roughly how your pics shows I ensure I can advance it without the vac advance canister hitting anything, bring it back, and set number one plug wire on the cap above the rotor. Basically you want to ensure that you have enough room for advancing it without having it too far the other way where it looks goofy.

oh and I have a have a new old stock points dist. If you want to switch types.

https://www.v8buick.com/index.php?threads/reman-never-used-350-points-distributor.378238/

 

Thanks for the response. I definitely have #1 on TDC right now no problem. I know that much after 35 years of pulling wrenches. I just rebuilt and recurved this distributor so I will stick with it. I will have a points distributor that I can go through and use later once I pull the 300 out and **** can it. What I am really wanting to know is which pole on the distributor is #1 as the factory did the install. Usually the wire routing works the nicest that way. I can just pick a #1 and work from there as well.
Greg

 

Happy new year Greg! Yes I knew by our earlier conversation that you knew how to set the TDC however I added that info for others who may read this. Poor photo but here is how mine sits.

 

The cap and vacuum advance are going to hit the upper hose. They will be your limiting factor. Put the hose on and the cap and see what gives you the most movement. Look for a factory 350 diagram from 1975 on.

 

Thanks Sean. I answered that post quickly and did not note who it came from. Of course you know I know what I am doing around a car. That picture helps a little. I think I will locate #1 on the distributor as the Chilton book says there. It looks like that is also how yours is layed out when I follow the wires around.
Greg

 

You look close to where these "factory" units are:

 

Better photo

 

It looks like you guys all have been #1 over by the vacuum advance much like is shown in the Chilton diagram. I will stick with that.
Greg

 

I moved the rotor so #1 could be basically just ahead of the external wiring plug in on the cap. I noticed the cap just hits the intake at one of the attachment lugs so hopefully I will have enough rotation to set the timing between there and the water outlet stopping me. I went digging through my hardware looking for the distributor hold down and could not seem to find it. I am not even sure if it had one or not. I ended up making one from a small block Chevy one I had and it should work. I could see a 455 one would not work. Now that I have been looking online to see what they look like, I see that many pictures I find just show a washer and bolt. In thinking what I had in the bolt bucket from the engine I am pretty sure I did see a funny looking thick hexed looking washer. When I get back to the shop I will have to see if that was the hold down. The picture is of the slightly modified Chevy one I have.
Greg

 

I had mine in that stock looking position when I used the HEI. you should check that mechanical advance since it probably goes too far on advance for that engine. Probably needs a bushing in there so you can give the engine more initial and then the mechanical advance is limited . About 34 max on a 350 for total.

 

The original style radiator hose was really tight against my hei. You might have to get a hose with a slightly different bend in it. I ended up switching to a small cap distributor which I've been really happy with.

 

I found if the vac advance points towards the radiator cap, and you put #1 points straight towards the #2 cylinder. I had plenty of room to get it timed when I ran 1.

In " theory" yes you can make any spot be #1, but keep in mind the distributor can go in in any 1 of 13 or 14 spots depending on bbb or sbb.......but you can only make #1 1 of 8 spots...........so it is possible to get it into a ""wonky" area that will drastically effect the phasing of the rotor to cap lineup.....working and working right are sometime different.

1 advantage of a large diameter cap is more space between the towers so less chance to cross fire between them. On my msd distributor in the racecar I run the mag cap adapter and run the 5" diameter cap

 

I do the same large cap on the MSD
I did run into same problem with HEI hitting return hose to rad. I think what I did was look for the hose for a 73 Regal with 350 to get hose that would go around HEI.

 

I found a picture of my 350/HEI. The vacuum line is off but laying just to the side with a little clamp on it. You can see where I have #1:

 

That looks like the spot I had mine also.

 

Yea. You are absolutely right about the mechanical advance. When I use stock distributors I reduce the mechanical advance by a bunch so I can have plenty of initial advance and still not have too much total. I restricted this one by about 1/3 of the movement so we will see what that works out to. Sometimes I weld up the slot to reduce movement but on this one I installed a roll pin to stop the mechanical from moving too far.
Greg

 

I have always preferred the small cap distributors and run a MSD one on my 455. This engine had the HEI so I did a rebuild of it. One thing I kind of forgot though, is that the 300 we are pulling out has an original Delco points distributor. I will rob that and any other pieces from that engine before we get rid of it. Maybe I will do a rebuild on it with points conversion and reduced mechanical advance. Probably an adjustable vacuum advance and lighter weight mechanical springs too. Hopefully this one will do the trick for now.
Greg

 

There was a points conversion kit for sale on marketplace for very reasonable local to me, I grabbed this so I could rebuild the old Delco points distributor from the 300 in case I am not happy with the HEI option. I will pull that one apart and restrict the mechanical advance like I did with the HEI. I will probably use a MSD cap so I can use the same wires as the HEI. If I don't end up using the distributor I can use it on one of my other engines eventually.
Greg