VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND NEWER 1949-1954 Distributor Wiring Question

I had to replace the vacuum advance. The wires weren't removed from the cap. #1 cyl was put at TDC. The rotor position was marked, dist was removed and replaced in the same position. After installing the cap and wires, I had no fire. Long story short, the wires had to be moved 1 position CCW.

In the pic with the blue wires, #4 wire is on the post right next to the cap clip. It's been this way for the 5yr I've had the car. Now, #1 is next to the clip. With the tab at the bottom of the dist, and the slot in the oil pump, I didn't think it could go together wrong. From pics I've seen, the wire in in the correct position, now.

The car ran great before, and maybe better now. I'm just trying to figure out what happened.

before

now

My best guess is that either the distributor housing got rotated in the clamp mechanism while the vacuum unit was being replaced or the shaft got rotated when the assembly was re-installed into the engine.

The distributor housing is oriented the same, and the rotor/shaft is in the same position. That's why I'm puzzled...