On my 82 4.9 liter distributor cap in my book it shows the clips in a different position than mine are in on my truck does that matter as my firing order is right on the cap except my number one is in front of the clip position and in the book it shows it on the back side of the clip. It seems to run to good to matter except for bad gas mileage. I have marked the pulley and tried to time it but I can’t see my mark. Maybe my light is bad.

 

No the mark is hard to see. They aren't cut very deep on the damper to begin with. I'd say if it's running, then line it up close to the number 1 according to how your distributor wires are, then look for the timing mark on the damper. It's usually just a tiny notch towards the engine side. Once you find it you can either paint it or cut it in a little deeper with a hack saw blade so you can see it. Then try to time it. The order of your plug wires doesn't really matter as long as you can twist the distributor enough to get it timed without it interfering with something else. It wuldn't hurt to arrange your plug wires as the book shows, but first find that timing mark.

After you get it all timed and the plug wires arranged, it's a good idea to take a chisel and notch the base of the distributor housing and engine block for future reference. Kind of nice to be able to plop the distributor right back in and start it up.

 

Thanks yarddogg77, I did find the mark and after you telling me I do remember someone telling me it’s hard to find. Getting older sucks, the memory isn’t as good as it use to be. Lol again thanks for the tip.

 

The distributor out of position doesn't matter as long as you have enough room to move the dist without the advance can hitting something and restricting movement and preventing you from timing it. The only thing I have seen it can affect is the sparkplug wiring lengths. Since the cylinders are in different positions on the cap, sometimes you really can't make the wires fit nicely like they should.