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NCmau 07-31-2012 07:56:48 174.110.228.151 Report to Moderator	I was just looking at the distributor on my Z134 Continental engine (MF 202) and there is a "1" marking on the cap. Does this signify that this should be a No. 1 cylinder?. If that's the case they are all off by one position. Right now they are wired where the actual No.1 cylinder is to the left. This a newly rebuilt engine and and this is not the original distributor. It is a Ford 100 series distributor which should be a substitute. It is been running like this sense I got it back from the mechanic few months ago. Lately this engine has not been running smoothly as it should and I am just in the middle of troubleshooting when I noticed the No. 1 marking. My guess is if the the No.1 cylinder was connected to the actual marking with the sequence there after, the engine wouldn't even run, or? Can you please shed some light? [Reply]   [No Email]
Jerry/MT 07-31-2012 09:09:19 206.183.116.145 Report to Moderator	Re: Questioning a Distributor Marking in reply to NCmau, 07-31-2012 07:56:48   That #1 was most likely used for the OEM distributor set up on the engine. There is nothing magic about it. the "#1" position could be any place on the distributor cap as long as the engine is set at it"s initial timing on the #1 cylinder and properly timed to that cylinder. You could rotate the crankshaft 180° and time it to the #3 cylinder (firing order 1-3-4-2)if you wanted to. You are correct that if you connected the #1 plug wire to that position on the cap, it would be out of time. The engine might run but it would run like a three legged dog! You could pull the distributor and rotate that #1 position to the #1 plug wire and retime the distributor but I don"t know of a good reason why. As far as not running smoothly, check to make sure that you have a good spark(FAT AND BLUISH-WHITE, the color of lightning) by removing the center wire from the distributor cap and holding it near a good ground and cranking the engine with the ignition on. if you have he requisite spark, make sur that your mixture settings are correct on the carb. [Reply]  [No Email]
NCMau 07-31-2012 10:16:26 174.110.228.151 Report to Moderator	Re: Questioning a Distributor Marking in reply to Jerry/MT, 07-31-2012 09:09:19   Of course Jerry, I guess that was a silly question on my part. Thanks. [Reply]  [No Email]
Jerry/MT 07-31-2012 17:14:01 206.183.116.145 Report to Moderator	Re: Questioning a Distributor Marking in reply to NCMau, 07-31-2012 10:16:26   No silly questions on these forums! [Reply]  [No Email]
old 07-31-2012 12:37:04 209.86.226.32 Report to Moderator	Re: Questioning a Distributor Marking in reply to NCMau, 07-31-2012 10:16:26   Yes it should be #1 but if the distributor has been pull out any any time it could well not be any more and depending on the type of drive it has be a t simple tang or a gear it could be almost any place [Reply]  [No Email]
2tractors 08-01-2012 05:06:49 207.144.5.133 Report to Moderator	Re: Questioning a Distributor Marking in reply to old, 07-31-2012 12:37:04   Itn't the #1 supposed to be at the 10 oclock position and since the cap will only fit one way,theres no way to move the "marked" position to 10.obcourse pullin the dist. and resetting the rotor will work for any of the 4 sparks. I think the reason for the 10 oclock standard is for the lenght of the plug wires. [Reply]  [No Email]