I know 1000 distributor questions have been asked on this forum but I’d really like a response from someone more knowledgeable about this then I.

I purchased a HEI distributor for my 87 cutlass. All the emission stuff has been removed, no computer. Pretty much a carb and 12 volts. When I removed the old Distributor I didn’t mark anything like I should have. I should have watched a video before not after. However from my knowledge getting base timing. To get it the car started I need the rotor to be pointing at the number one cylinder TDC on a compression stroke? Another issue I’m having is the balancer has a timing mark. But the metal bracket that reads the degrees is bent out of shape. So I need to find a way to get the correct 0* TDC. My next issue is wiring the distributor. I know I need a eng/Tach wired up. The distributor I pulled off had a factory plug I needed to disconnect. Would this harness have a tach and a eng wire? I know it needs to be a keyed wire so it shuts off when I turn the car off. From my understanding I should be able to use a pink wire. My next question is what gauge wire should I use for my splices. 12ga should be fine right? Or does my eng wire need to be a thicker gauge? Another issue I’m having is the placement of the spark plugs. I know the firing order so can I place my number 1 plug anywhere on the distributor as long as I follow the firing order?

 

Yes, just be sure the rotor points to the number one spark plug wire at TDC on compression. One easy way I've found is to wad a small piece of paper towel in the no. 1 spark plug hole. Bump the engine over and it will blow out on compression. Now line up the timing marks. The stock timing pointer on a 307 is plastic. Any metal tab would be suspect as far as being correct anyway. The part number for the correct timing tab is 550411.

 

Good luck finding a 550411. It's correct for VIN Y 307, but rare as hen's teeth. If you can find one in the j/y or if someone has some laying around, that's about your only chance. The VIN 9 has the old-school "big" balancer used on the 350/400/455 etc., and would use indicator p/n 419048 and they're not too easy to find either. If you had the bigger balancer, you could buy a metal version for an older V8 as well. But the 550411 is correct for your application. Although if it's bent, it sounds like something is wrong here. Nylon usually just breaks.

Additionally, 307s used 20 deg BTDC on their CCC distributors as a baseline and the computer would control the timing from there. You obviously won't need that here. You could use something more like 10 to 12 to start with as a baseline. Obviously you may need to recurve that aftermarket distributor to dial it in properly, but that's another ballgame for later. Right now you just need to get it back running again.

You didn't say if your carburetor was changed or the original. That could be an issue if it's still the original CCC carb.