Looking at the top two pictures, would you say cylinder #1 or #6 is on TDC? With the balancer set on TDC, the top pic are the lifters for #1 and the bottom for #6. The second pair of pics are after I rotated the balancer 360 degrees. Again, #1 is top pic, #6 bottom pic.

Top two pics, #1 is firing and #6 is on overlap. It should be even more obvious 20-30 degrees after TDC on the balancer/timing marks; the cylinder on overlap will have the intake opening.

Both are @ TDC: one is firing and the other is on OL.
Every 360 degrees they switch

So which way should I set it for when I install the distributor and set the rotor to the #1 wire? I'm going to be installing the intake and just wanted to be sure I have it set properly while I can still see the lifters.

the top pic.

Pull the #1 spark plug and use a remote starter button a little at a time to help you find TDC on the firing stroke with one of your fingers stuck over the spark plug hole

This Comp Cams diagram might help you visualize what I said.

Thanks for the pic. I have a follow-up question. I rotated the crank another 360 degrees to put it back to how the top two pics look. I confirmed it to be tdc on number one by pulling the numer one plug and checking for compression. So. while I had the balancer on tdc, I put the oil pump gear in and aligned the slot parallel to the heads. Then I installed the intake. I then rotated the crank counterclockwise to set the timing mark at approximately 15 degrees btdc to hopefully get the engine to fire as soon as possible. Of course the oil pump gear moved as well and is no longer parallel to the heads. My question is, do I leave the gear as-is and install the distributor and set the rotor under number one wire on the cap or do I need to adjust the oil pump gear so it is again parallel to the heads and then install the distributor and set to number one?

The oil pump slot on a big block goes almost perpendicular to the heads. #1 is rotor pointing towards #2 cylinder.

But in theory you can put number one wire wherever the rotor is pointing and wire from there.

Main thing is having the reluctor lined up when you snug it down.

Simple way to put it together for start up is to have the engine at 30 degrees BTDC on the compression stroke. Then install the distributor so that the rotor is pointed towards the tower in the cap that is going to be your #1 wire. Any wire can be #1 so you just pick it depending on how you want to route the plug wires. Bolt it all together with the rotor pointed at the #1 tower with the damper at 30 degrees BTDC. That will put the rotor in the correct location for normal operation. The timing should be close to correct when you do it that way but you always need to double check with a timing light once it fires.

Agreed I just take it one more step, after pointing the rotor at the right tower I fine tune the reluctor to line up.

How should the reluctor be positioned when the rotor is on #1? If anyone has a picture I would appreciate seeing it so I could actually see what it should look like.

Yah, having a reluctor makes it a little more difficult. Back in the old days when I ran electronic ignition I would machine additional slots in the reluctor so I could fine tune the rotor phasing. That was actually a requirement for some performance engines with vacuum advance. The factory reluctor position wouldn't work on some combinations.

I had forgotten about that since I haven't used a reluctor based ignition system in 20 years.

Thanks for the pic but does anyone have one showing the position of the reluctor in the distributor when #1 is firing?

after you figure out which tower is number one, line up the raised rib on the wheel to the inductor core on the pick up, and snug the dist. down. Look in there you see.

The timing will be right where you left your balancer.

not a dealbreaker but I would run the plug wires in the OE order around the cap which lets em lay the neatest with the shortest lengths possible. this might help prevent a future mistake. EDIT this would be the #1 plug wire in the cap facing the front of the engine on a SB and at the 5 o'clock position looking over the pass fender on a BB. you can reclock the intergear to get it where you want it. be sure to check rotor phasing & with no vac adv I want it dead centered and with vacuum advance I want the trailing edge of the rotor tip at the trailing edge of the cap terminal as vac adv will pull it back against rotation as only vac adv not mechanical advance changes phasing. You can redrill the reluctor with a mini drill bit then break the edge out with a mini file to reclock the roll pin in the reluctor to change phasing and Echlin has a rotor with a longer blade (MO3000 iirc) that will help reduce the gap.

I think B1MAXX meant to say is "the slot should be almost parallel" to the heads.

Joe

correct, here ya go, pics show what get lost in translation. Damper at 15 before.

Where the slot in that drive goes is dependent on the distributor. MSD's have been known in some engines to be miles off with rotor direction/#1 tower when the drive is installed per the manual.

I usually identify where I want the #1 tower on distributor, figure out where the tang is pointing, get drive dropped in. Then when ready to fire it up and wired, hook up a timing light on #1 wire, timing mark in 15-20 BTDC area. On a BB turn housing counter clockwise, turn on ign, and twist housing slowly back clockwise watching for the flash. Should be very close to timed up.

So, set the timing 30 degrees advanced or 15-20? I now have it at about 18 degrees. The slot in the oil pump gear when looking in the distributor hole is now angled upward some, approaching the 10 o'clock position. Should I pull it back out and realign it to parallel with the head or doesn't it matter?