edi distributor 4.3 vortec 95 blazer

hi there im new here and hope someone can help me. i have read some other threads on this subject, but cant seem to come up with anything everyone agrees on. i have just finished rebuild on my 95 blazer vortec 4.3 with edi distributer. the engine was torn down when i bought it and the distributor was not marked before it was removed. the haynes book says to put no1 cyl at tdc and point the rotor towards the 6 mark on the dist. housing. this doesnt make sense to me because the rotor should point towards the no. 1 tower, one would think, and it does not. am i wrong in making this assumption? and how do i know if i am on compression tdc without pulling the valve covers? can i look at the position of another piston to determine which cycle no. 1 is on? my basic question is doe i find top dead center no. 1 and point the rotor at no. 1 tower, or do i do as the book says and line the rotor up with the "6" stamped on the housing? i did it the way the book says with no avail, dut maybe i had it off by 180 deg. i want to get it right thee first time(second time,actually) because you have to pull the plenum to remove the distributor, so trial and error methods are out of the question. thanks for any advice you can give

Welcome to AF

This is what mr. Haynes is trying to tell you.
http://files.automotiveforums.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=51302

But you are missing the fact that there is two TDC's on a 4 cyl engine

One compression stroke and one exhaust stroke.

Always set you engine TDC compression stroke.

The 6 Mr Haynes is talking about is the 6 stamped on dist housing as in the picture I posted.
Point the rotor to it.
On the new flat top dist caps the wires criss cross in the cap so do not try to point the rotor to the no one wire where it comes out of the cap.

Also for a V8 there is a no 8 on dist housing.
MT

thanks very much for the pic. that clears that up once and for all! thanks a bunch

You are welcome and remember to find TDC compression stroke.
You can pull spark plug and hold your finger over the plug hole and crank engine and feel compression stroke.
Good Luck
MT