1 on cap?

Hello,
I have searched on here and I find a lot of info on firing order for a small Chevy V8. However I am not totally sure how to find 1 on the cap. My past experience has been nothing more then changing plugs. I have never done timing so using timing mark is not something I know how to do. HELP!

Thanks
Dean

Take the dist cap off, remove #1 plug ,have some one turn over the engine till you feel compression in that cyl., line up the marks on the balancer and timing tab on the ft cover. The rotor should now point to #1 plug wire in the cap.

If the distributor has never been pulled from the engine, #1 should be at the front of the distributor (as viewed from the front of the engine) on the right-side tower. If the distributor has been pulled, experience tells me that #1 could be any one of the 8 towers.

In that case, pull the cap off. Align the timing mark on the harmonic balancer to TDC on the tab. Now, the rotor is pointing to either #1 or #6, as #1 could be on its compression stroke (where it should be for the rotor to point to it), or it could be on TDC of the exhaust/intake stroke (which should leave the rotor pointing at #6).

You can use a compression gauge to determine if #1 is on its compression stroke during hand cranking.

Once #1 is determined, firing order is clockwise, 1-8-4-3-6-5-7-2.

Of course, maxwedge beats me to the punch with a much simpler explanation!

Thank You Maxwedge and Silicon212!

I have a 1986 step van that a jasper engine was put into about 5 years ago and then after putting about 10 miles on the struck I left it sit in my yard. After the motor was replaced the truck ran rough and back fired out the carb. I never got around to doing anything with the truck since. Last week I pulled the plugs and sprayed wd40 into each. Then a few days later I put 1/2 gal of gas into truck, jumped it and after spraying starter fluid into carb I got it running, but very rough. And when I turned the key off the truck ran on and backfired out the carb and then went off. My neighbor said maybe the wires were messed up. I looked at the wires cap and I saw that the tower on pass side and toward the firewall had a white "1" painted next to it. After researching on the net I felt like maybe when the engine was replaced (Jasper engine) maybe they messed up and mixed the wire up.

Now after following you guys advice I found that I thought #1 should be the oposit side from were the 1 was painted on. I rewired cap using the New # 1, Truck starts and runs better and no backfiring. I still have a miss but the wires are in bad shape so I bet replacing them and maybe plugs things will improve. But with you guys info I have been able to stop the back fire.

Thanks Again,

Dean