Since there is a slight amount of pressure head in the oil system that when you remove the distributor it the oil pump drive rotates a bit - usually about one gear tooth, or enough that it wont engage properly and thoroughly tick you off. What you do at that point is replace the distributor with the rotor pointing to the mark you made before you took it out (you DID do that, I hope). If it doesn't fall into place, put a socket on a long breaker bar on the crank nut and turn the engine over in it normal operating direction(you will loosen the nut/bolt in the other direction) - with the plugs removed is a LOT easier. The distributor will fall in place as soon as everything lines up correctly. If you can't see or get to the crank pulley, have then you can use a remote button to make short pulses to turn the engine over(best with the plugs removed, but not necessary). You do have to hold the distributor in place. If you miss it the first time, the camshaft turns a 1/2 the speed of the crank, so will have to go completely around a second time. The screwdriver trick works when you can actually look down the dist. hole and see the oil pump slot - a lot of cars under hood design make that next to impossible.
If, for some reason you lose your place on the oil pump gear vs distributor cap, you will have to start from a 'zero' point. And here is where you really do need to pull the plugs.
With the plugs out hold your thumb over the #1 cylinder plug hole, turn the engine over and watch the timing mark. You will feel pressure coming from the plug hole. This will be close to TDC. If you don't, go around one more time. Line up the timing pointer and crank pulley mark. With #1 marked on the distributor, and the rotor aligned to that mark, drop it in place and follow what I said above. :sweat:
It's easy, but has messed up a lot of folks days (and evenings) I PO'd a guy so much that I worked with just out of high school using this method on an Oldsmobile, he almost got me fired - and he was an 'experienced' mechanic.
Good luck
Dave
