Cylinder #1 is always the piston closest to the front of the engine(on a transverse mounted engine the side with the belts is the front). If it is a "V" style engine then you will notice that One cylinder head sits closer to the front of the engine than the other. The front cylinder on that side will be number 1.
NUMBER6 PISTON ALSO IN top dead centre
The number 1 piston on that motor is the first cylinder on the drivers side.
Driver side, front piston.
#1 piston is the one closest to the front of the truck. K6 mazdatruckin.com
I was told the number 1 piston is at the back side of the motor closet to the passenger side.
Closest to serpentine belt.
Take number 1 plug out, put your finger in the plug hole turn motor over manually preferably, when piston is at top dead center it will blow air out of number 1 hole.
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.
front right drivers side
When the point are in no 1 position and just closing no 1 piston is up.
The front cylinder on the driver's side is #1.
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.