My rotor showed up, so I spent Friday afternoon putting the distributor in the car. Having to unbolt the blower and swing it around isn't a real big deal, just a PITA. Checked for #1 TDC, swapped them and put it all back together, reached in and turned the key and it lit right off. Wow!!! Only issue is I couldn't advance it enough because the tach drive hits the intake. I had the same issue with the wagon decades ago. So I pulled the distributor and ground on the plug a bit and retried it. Nope, not enough. Ugh. One more time and this time I ground on the intake.....being very cautious as to not hit water!!! Worked much better but still not quite enough as I can only get about 10* initial and I want a touch more. I'm trying to get about 34* total like I had before so I may need to adjust the arms to reduce mechanical advance. I don't like a bunch of total with the blower since I don't have any boost retard AND just 1968 cast pistons! Safety first.
I need to order another tach cable that is more to the length I want. The one I do have has wrong drive end, the other I have is like 3 ft too long and don't want it wrapped all over the engine compartment. I found a place online in Denver that can do it. When I did the wagon 25:yrs ago, the local Mack dealer had all the tools to make cables. Today, not so much.
Only other detail is remaking the plug wires to fit better with the crab cap. They are a bit long now. That along with my buddy to punch me out a new tach mount from some aluminum so I can get it mounted.