I messed with the distributor timing on my M

My M was running rough. points were shot- bought points, condensor, cap, rotor. Later I found that I seperated the distributor at the wrong spot. Went through the dist cuz it was full of junk. Cleaned the weights under the points ect and reasembled then realized I took it apart at the wrong spot. Put the motor at TDC and removed the other section -where I should have the first time. started the re timing process and am confused a lot!!!! book says timing lugs should be at bout 35 deg or the same as the shaft slots. Since it is at TDC it is what it is right?? When I look at the book I cant see what 35 degs is in relation to everything else- bad pic. I have it at TDC and the shaft slots look to be at 10 and 4 o'clock. Is that 35 degs?? since I removed the outer gear shaft off that drive gear I tried to line it up with number one on the cap and put the gears back together. Seems right but after I put together I got nothing.... I turned on the Ammeter and get nothing.... does not show a discharge. I retard it 30 degrees/advance it 30 degrees and over agian and nothing......pull out the secondary cable and hold it on the nut and get nothing when I advance or retard. any help would be appricated

How do I time the gears to one another or does it not matter?? The way the book sounds it only has to be close to number one becasue you can advance or retard later...

The front section only goes in one way. If you did not turn the engine over when it was out it shouldn't matter. Set the engine at TDC, timing marks should align. Remove the distributer, not the distributer drive. Point the rotor to #1 on the distributer cap. Install the distributer without rotating the distributer gear. When installed, rotate the distributer counter clockwise viewed from the rear. Turn the ignition on, remove the coil wire from the distributer cap, hold the end close to the nut on the distributer and slowly rotate the distributer clockwise until you get a spark. It should be timed. You can further time it with a light. Maybe a little more precise if you know the # degrees to advance but not much.

I did turn the engine over to put it in tdc. then took off the section section to make sure it was at 35 deg. then put that section on then the second section and tunred the splines till it looked like it was pointint to no 1. The front shaft is splined like the other and can be put in any number of ways...you can point the rotor in any direction cause the teath line up in any direction.

You must be using the Operators Manual. When I looked at the picture I remembered the 35 degree from horizontal thing for the lugs Been a while since I did that, but I don't remember any particular problem. What I was referring to is on page 42, a little more detailed than my explanation. You are correct that the distributer can go in any position. To point to #1, install the distributer cap and use a felt pen to line a mark on the body up with #1 on the cap. As I said, then install the distributer into the drive without rotating the dist gear. Book says if the ammeter does not show a discharge you do not need to rotate the dist counter clockwise. The rest is in the book.

I'll give her a try