Annoying Distributor... Argh!?

I must have tried this at least 100 times...

Set distributor in
Turn oil pump shaft
Pull distributor out...

Did not seat correctly, try again...

I even tried marking where the slot on the shaft should face. Now the funny thing is that I tried it on my old 305 sitting on the crate (the old motor from the car) and in the 1st try it seated correctly. I can't seem to get it on the 350 correctly, and I don't want to try starting it without the shaft seated in the end of the gear. One other thing I tried was setting it in then rotating the crank over 2 times. Still would not drop. The only thing I saw looking down the shaft is that there is a little tab looking thing opposite the camshaft toward the rear of the motor. This is the only thing not on the 305. Is there some difference in the 305 to the 350 preventing me from reusing my distributor that I am not aware of? Thanks.

Firing order is 1 8 4 3 6 5 7 2

from the fron t of the motor should look like:

.....6.....5
...3.........7..t
...4.........2..b
.....8.....1

**I might ahve the b (battery) and t (tach) feed reversed, but you get the idea.

My dist. was a PITA to reinstall aswell, don't know wht the deal was, came out easy as pie and nothing moved but it refused to line back up with the oil pump :dunno:.

ive had the same problem, i eventuallly got it after like 50 tries