I would suggest: (1) turn dampener till the slit is at your preferred initial setting on #1 compression & if that ain't set in stone you might set it at 15 BTDC (2) clock the intergear anywhere it needs to be so the rotor is facing forward and slightly to the pass side (start with the slot parallel to the eng). (3) (final) install of dist & turn housing so can is on pass side in the general range of motion it needs to be for adjustments. (4) turn housing slightly till the P is in position to fire (just like the MP magnet/tooth setup would be doing). (5) plug in #1 plug wire in the cap right above the rotor location. Fire it up! Caveats: Sometimes the intergear will rise up off of the cam gear with a large screwdriver. Sometimes it takes a pair of coat hangar wires with an L bent on the ends or a loop of very thin wire so it will nestle in the teeth root on opposite sides of the gear cuz it is tight in there. As said you might need to slightly turn the oil pump with a 5/16" hex rod. Locating the #1 plug wire location in the cap to be forward and slightly to the pass side maintains the OE order (helps prevent future mistakes) & lets the wires nestle in place the neatest with the shortest lengths possible for their routing (As you know clocking is CW from #1)

Are you talking about a big block or maybe I'm confused. Mine is a 340 with the distributor on the back of the engine. Clockwise rotation and my no 1 cylinder is supposed to be the one on the front left so I was thinking the slot should point slightly toward the driver side to put the distributor where I want it. In line with the no 1 front left cylinder. Here's a pic.

Yes SB and the #1 piston/cyl is on the DR side at the front & agreed the shop manuals/MP info says to have the intergear slot pointed a bit to the DR side (the #1 intake manifold bolt iirc) then plug in the #1 plug wire wherever the rotor happens to be by doing it that way & that works fine and most of the time that WILL locate the rotor forward and slightly to the pass side, however some dists have a different bottom tang to top rotor clocking & IDEALLY you want the rotor (not the intergear slot) to be pointing forward and slightly to the pass side (for the #1 wire location) which is the OE pattern no matter where the intergear slot points to and actually the intergear slot and therefore the rotor location can be ANYWHERE. The diagrams show pointing it to the #1 intake bolt cuz most of the time with OE dist it WILL locate the rotor forward and slightly to the pass side. Maybe to Keep It Simple Sam we should plug in the #1 plug wire wherever the rotor ends up at when you clock the intergear slot pointing to the #1 intake bolt and there's a VG chance that the rotor WILL be forward & to the pass side. What I would do right now is turn the dampener to the initial you will be going with & note where this locates the rotor then turn the housing so the can has clearance (which is what we are trying to fix here, sounds like I need to k.i.s.s.)! AND the P is ready to fire then snug the dist holddown moderately tight then plug in the #1 plug wire above the rotor & continue on around CW. The ONLY reason we would need to reclock the intergear is if we wanted to change where the rotor is at & intergear work is a pain at best and the only reason to have the rotor forward/slightly to pass side is it lets the plug wires nestle the neatest with the shortest lengths & maintaining OE standardization can prevent future mistakes and and it is a good thing to have but it ain't a dealbreaker. Holler when you can