That would be a neat trick. The piston will not fit into the distributor cap. Remove intake and left side head (bank 1) the #1 piston is closest to front.
what are the location of number 1 to 8 piston in the fire bird v8 and the rotation of the distributor and its firing order... in the cap...
make sure that the number 1 piston is at tdc on the compression stroke, then look and make sure the rotor is pointing at number 1. if not lift the distributor up and turn it towards the number 1 cylinder and put the number 1 wire on the cap were number 1 is, then wire it 1,8,4,3,6,5,7,2 clockwise It probably means that the piston is between the exhaust and intake cycle and that you need to turn the crankcase 360 degrees. That should put the distributor in the right place.
Yes the rotor should be pointing to the #1 cylinder when you are installing the distributor.
take number 1 spark plug out and bring that piston to top dead center. Then take distributor cap off. Locate which tower the rotor is pointing to on the cap. That will be the number 1 plug wire. Then just follow the firing order. The rotor should turn clockwise.
Try putting the number one piston on the top of the stroke.
Take a compression test Could be a bad head gasket Bad plugs? Bad wires?
The easiest way to find it is to set #1 piston at TDC and see where the rotor is pointing, it should be pointing to number 1 terminal on the distributor cap.
Driver side....first cylinder. DS 1357 PS 2468
Easiest way to find it is to set #1 piston at TDC and remove the distributor cap to see where the rotor is pointing. It should be pointing to #1 cylinder position in relation to the distributor cap.
Bring number one piston on compression stroke up to TDC. Drop distributor in so that the rotor points to the number one pin inside the distributor cap. The clamp at the base of the distributor only goes one way so there is no timing with a light necessary, the ECM takes care of that.
To find where number one spark plug wire connects to the distributor, remove the distriutor cap and set number one piston at Top Dead Center (TDC). At TDC, the rotor should be pointing to where number one spark plug wire connects.
Crank motor over until number 1 piston is all the way up on compression stroke, the distributor with rotor bug, if installed correctly, will be pointing toward number 1 post.