Installing a new dizzy

I'd go with the latter on that one bud...

it's not that hard to make sure you get it right the first time. at TDC the rotor should face the intake - maybe a little before the 1st runner before it's advanced.

good luck

You should be able to stab it with the rotor pointing at the exact same location. I would roll the engine to the number one postion before yanking the old one though. That way you should be pretty darn close to #1 tdc and have a good starting point.

You will need a timing light before it is all said & done. There is no way you can hit 14* when swapping one distributor for another.

Here's the beginning to end proceedure...

Take the coil wire out of the distributor. Pull #1 plug, put your finger in the spark plug hole. Have someone crank the engine until it starts to blow air past your finger. Stop cranking, turn the engine by hand (breaker bar on the harmonic balancer bolt, or put the car in gear and push) until the TDC mark on the harmonic balancer lines up with the pointer on the passenger side of the engine. Loose the distributor hold down bolt, remove the clamp, cap and wires, disconnect the wiring harness. Pull the distributor straight up.

The following re-install depends on the engine being lined up as in the previous instructions.
To re-install, turn the distributor rotor to point to #1 cylinder position on the cap. The#1 position is about 11 o'clock if 6 o' clock is the front of the engine. Line the rotor up with it pointing at the #1 spark plug position on the cap and drop it in: you may have to twist the shaft some to get it to engage the oil pump shaft. Then remove the SPOUT connector plug, and use a timing light to set the timing. The SPOUT is the dangling connector on the distributor harness on stangs made prior to 94 and with a computer controlled engine. 10* is stock for most 5.0s' 12*-14* is good for more pep if you are not into NO2 or power adders.