[Roadsters] As the Distributor Turns

[nmleeds at mindspring.com]

When my roadster ('69 U20, primer white) is running right its like Dallas, when it isn't I think of it as the Young the Restless or General Hospital.

Well now I'm in an episode of As the Distributor Turns and I thought I ask for some suggestions.

Here's my problem. I'm a bonehead and when I installed my distributor I installed in 180 degrees off. To date, I've solved this problem by routing the number one spark plug on the distributor to the number four spark plug and the #2 to #3 and vis versa (or something like that). Mechanically/electrically this has solved the problem. But the cosmetics have left somthing to be desired -- an ugly tangle of spark plug wires leaping over eachother to find their right place on the engine.

I just pulled out the engine to handle some other stuff and thought that while I had it on the bench I'd address my little distributor problem.

My partner in Datsun crime has suggested that we pull off the timing covers, remove the timing chains and rotate the jack-shaft. This seems excessive. Is there any easier way? 1) rotating the camshaft 180 degrees? 2) pulling the distributor, rotating the engine once on the crank, and dropping the distributor back in? Other ideas?

Nathaniel Leeds