Hello again, everyone.

I'm back with another noob question I'm afraid. I have begun my first tune up on my 75 2.0 with dual 40's... (you may groan as necessary) I'm going at it backwards, as I haven't yet gotten around to jacking the car up high enough to get myself underneath it. I have recently replaced the coil with a bosch blue. I just replaced the plugs with ngk b5es, and a new set of bosch wires. Today, I replaced the old dizzy with a new one, had no trouble with the install, but in doing so, I discovered that all this time, at TDC, the rotor has been pointing at #3. Car has run just fine, it seemed. So, I started the car up, leaving the plug wires as they had been, and messed around with the timing a bit. She was running very nicely. I shut her down, and switched the wires so that #1 was at TDC as it should be. Wouldn't start, even gave me a little backfire or two. I switched them all back, and she started up again. Frustrated, I repeated this process, knowing (thinking at least) that they were all backwards. This time, when I returned the wires to the way they were to start with (#3 on TDC) she wouldn't start either. I think I flooded the engine a bit in my fervor to will her to start with #1 in the right place. (by the way, the new fuel pump doesn't tick anywhere near as loudly while I'm trying to restart) So, after this long story, why the heck are my wires backwards??

You need to put back at TDC for cylinder number 1 (compression stroke), then remove and reinstall the distributor so that the rotor points to spark plug number 1 instead of plug number 3.

Edit: sorry left out something...

Another noob question then... When I located 'TDC', I passed the red line, and then found a 0. Is this the correct spot, or am I 180 degrees off? I was expecting to see a white line.

The 0 is correct for most 914 fans.

Note that the TDC mark shows up twice through the complete cycle of the engine--once at TDC #1 and once at TDC #3.

--DD

Then I needed to go all the way around again to get to #1. Since I was at #3, and the wires were routed accordingly, it was fine then?

Also, i assume I did flood it when trying to start it. Would the (brand new) fuel pump sound muffled in that case?

The distributor drive gear can be removed and re clocked, so that may have happened.
Different distributors, 009 in particular, place the number one cylinder in a different place based upon the fact that is was not made for this motor, so the cog on the bottom of the distributor is setup wrong.

Net results, you may be right on with how you have it setup and you flooded the motor.

Rich

Now I'm getting steamed (and frustrated).
I think I flooded it about an hour and a half ago while trying to start it. I've let it sit, and she cranks like no tomorrow. Not even a hint at catching. She ran just fine right after I swapped dizzies. What have I wrought?

First things first:
1 - If you want to be positive that you are at TDC #1 Compression stroke, then you need to pull a valve cover off (driver's side).

2 - you cant always trust the marks on the fan. There might be a mark at 5 deg BTDC and one at 27 deg BTDC, but you cant be sure.
There shouldnt be a mark at TDC unless a previous owner (PO) put one there.

3 - There is a better mark to look at on the flywheel. You can see it if you push the rear engine tin back an inch and look through the hole between the engine case & trans case.

you can see it here:
https://youtu.be/QtPd5qzyTk8

If that mark is lined up with the top of the case (as in the video), and both valve rockers are loose on cyl #1, you are at TDC #1.
If you rotate that mark (CW when looking from the front, so mark will descend towards the drivers side) until it lines up with the case split at the bottom, you are at TDC#4, rotate till straight up again #3, down again #2.

(EDIT) sorry forgot to get to the point.

You can make the engine run with the distributor in in any orientation if the wires are in the right order and #1 is on whatever the rotor is point at when the engine is at TDC #1.
The centrifugal advance dist. doent have a can on the side that limits its clocking to where it normally is on the engines with vac advance because of the vac can.

Pull the plugs, give it time to evaporate.

Smell the oil, careful not to allow raw fuel into the oil from major flooding.

Oh, another thing that I just went through with my webers:

Once you setup the carbs ready for first run, turn on the fuel pump and listen.
You should hear whining from the pressure regulator (assuming you are using one) and a noise from each carb as the float bowls fill up.
Then the noises should STOP when the needle valves seat closed except for the pump which should switch to a "labored noise".

This means that the floats have risen and closed the needle valves.
Now look down each barrel and make sure that the barrel is not filling up with fuel!!

I had this happen to me TWICE recently.
First time was that the float was slightly bent to one side and was dragging on the side of the float bowl. There is only like 1/16" to either side of the float when it is operating. I now carefully check that each time I put the tops back on.
The second time was when one of the needle valves backed itself out and was just dumping fuel whenever the pump was running.

Luckily I noticed it immediately and fired up the engine or I would have filled a cylinder with gas and contaminated my oil.

Actually, many of the D-jet fans have a '0' stamped into them at TDC.

--DD