My 1.7L engine is missing plug wires and I'm confused. In a diagram I saw that the distributor post for cylinder #1 is at the notch in the distributor housing as shown in the drawing. When I've seen some photos of people's engines though, it looks like my order is backwards. Is my distributor rotated 180 degrees off so #1 should be where #3 is and #2 where #4 is?

when you set the engine at TDC, is it on the compression stroke? If not, itll be 180 out. Check the lifters for #1 and see if they are both "loose" . IF one is not, rotate 180 on the dist and check again, should be REAL TDC. When both rockers for #1 are slack, that is your true tdc, where ever it may land.

It doesn't really matter. You can orient the distributor body any way you like, so the notch can be anywhere. What matters is where the rotor is pointing when a particular cylinder is nearing TDC on the compression stroke. The drive gear for the distributor has a slot in the top that ensures the rotor shaft can only go on one way. That gear, however, can be oriented in many different positions, so what direction the rotor is pointing when looking down at the engine is not a reliable indication of which cylinder is at TDC on the compression stroke. The factory alignment is to have the rotor pointing roughly at the oil breather tower for the No.1 cylinder, but it will work in any orientation.

Rotate your engine by hand with the valve cover off until you're sure No.1 is at TDC on the compression stroke (you'll see the TDC mark on the fan, and both of the rockers on the No. 1 cylinder will be loose, which means both valves are closed, which means it has to be on the compression stroke). Note which direction the rotor is pointing. Rotate the distributor body until the rotor is pointing at the notch. Put the No. 1 plug wire on the cap post that the rotor will point to when the cap is put on (which can also only go on one way). Put the rest of the wires on the cap in firing order. If you end up with an arrangement where the rotor is pointing well away from the breather tower, then you know the drive gear is oriented in some way other than the factory way. It will make no difference to how the car runs, it will only serve to possibly confuse a future mechanic.

I've always used stock djet distributors in which case everything is 180 from your diagram, including notch (but where is the vacuum advance/retard? Is this a djet distrib?) Is cyl #1 at tdc combustion stroke when distrib rotor is pointed at what you have marked as #1? If so, and you dont have clearance probs rotating distrib, then done.

A couple of warnings:

1. Don't try to pull the gear out to re-orient it. There is a washer under the gear that will likely fall into your engine. (that's very bad)

2. Do not use a chopstick to find TDC!!! (what ever happened with that chopstick?)

Thanks for the info. The rotor is pointing roughly at the notch as shown when cylinder #1 is at TDC on compression stroke. I can put on the plug wires relative to this #1 location but the wiring will be backwards from factory setting and I just hope the plug wires will be long enough. I thought that I could just rotate the distributor notch to aim at the oil filler but the wire post for #1 will still be where it is now.

Did the distributor likely get installed backwards? Is it possible to take it out and install it in the correct orientation without dropping washers into the engine? If the wires reach should I just live with it?

The distributor is not the d-jet one and has no vacuum advance thingy. I do have the original and all (I think) of the FI parts so once I get it driveable with the carb, may consider changing back to FI over the winter.