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Small body distibutor orientation

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Old 12-19-2022, 01:55 PM
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Small body distibutor orientation

Which way was the large connector pointed originally on the later small body electronic 8 pin distributors on the SBC TBI engines? All the information I have in my manuals refers to the earlier coil-in-body HEI distributors which on had the connector pointing to the driver's side on SBC engines. I'm thinking the small body distributors are probably the same, but I looked at the one in my friend's '95 Chevy PU and the connector on it was actually pointed to the left and rear of the vehicle. I didn't know if this was how it was supposed to be or whether it's how someone re-did it at some point.

I know in practice it probably doesn't matter how the distributor sits in the engine as long as the spark plug wires are arranged in the correct firing order on the cap and the rotor points to them that way as the engine turns, but I just like to do things the way they were done originally..
Old 12-19-2022, 04:05 PM
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Re: Small body distibutor orientation

What intake is it going into? TPI? If so, the factory used a slanted line on the large ring of the dist that matches up to a line on the back of the intake where the dist goes in.

You can see the line on the left dist, that will continue down to the intake. By this picture, the connectors point to firewall


Last edited by TTOP350; 12-19-2022 at 04:16 PM.
Old 12-19-2022, 06:00 PM
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Re: Small body distibutor orientation

Plugs ports on the Distributor face the drivers side....... turned to the center a bit - but facing the driver side


the factory used a slanted line on the large ring of the
Thanx for that,........... learned sumthin' new today !

Last edited by John in RI; 12-19-2022 at 06:04 PM.
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Old 12-19-2022, 07:55 PM
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Re: Small body distibutor orientation

Originally Posted by John in RI
Plugs ports on the Distributor face the drivers side....... turned to the center a bit - but facing the driver side




Thanx for that,........... learned sumthin' new today !
Thanks. Good to know for sure rather than to guess.
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