It's a sometimes thing as to whether you'll lose prime or not; I've swapped the
pump in a couple of cars without worrying about priming and not had a problem.
If you just pop the distributor and pedestal out, without touching the clamp
that actually holds the timing setting, you will see the distributor drive
gear. Note the position of the offset slot (I'd make a pair of marks on the
block with a magic marker). Now, pull out the distributor drive gear (twist a
bit) and reveal the top of the oil pump drive. It may have a slot, and it may
have a tang.
What you need to come up with is a way to drive that drive shaft - if it's a
slot, you can just use a long screwdriver bit. I don't have a good idea for the
tang-style right now. Chuck it up in your electric drill and spin it in the
direction of the distributor, probably anti-clockwise.
This won't do you any good if the pump has lost its prime; so I suggest that
you take an oil can and pump oil into the pressure sender/switch port at the
same time, until you get the oil squirted back out at you. Then close the port
and spin some more until you see oil at the rockers.
Carefully put everything back together, start the engine, check the pressure
and timing.
If you're very lucky, you might be able to get away with putting a quart or two
extra oil into the sump - you want enough to cover the bottom of the oil pump,
so it has something to suck. I'd try that first!
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