1937 distributor wires on wrong?

[harvey b]

Hi all, been tinkering with my 37-60 series lately,had to change the points and check the dwell and timing,have seen a couple of posts lately that "show " where the #1 wire is to exit the cap,if they are correct then mine are on wrong,looks to be out 180% ,if i was to put the shaft back to where it should be,will this make it work better?,it actually runs pretty good now the way it is?.Should i leave it alone,i am pretty sure i can do this if i have too,any input is welcome.  Harvey Bowness

[R Schroeder]

I cant think of any reason to change it.
If the number one piston is on TDC, and the rotor points to number one plug wire, and the wires are on in the correct order, then I cant see changing it.
Maybe someone else has a different opinion.
Roy

I should ad that the number one piston is at TDC , on the compression stroke.
Some people mess that up.

[gary griffin]

There is a recommended way to put the distributor in but there is actually no wrong way.  The main reason to do it the way the book shows it is uniformity and the ability of any mechanic to trouble shoot it.  I have had cars that were off by many degrees that ran well because they were timed to the actual installation rather than the book installation.

I personally like to have them installed as per the manual but if the owner is the only one who is going to work on the car it does not matter.

[Alan Harris CLC#1513]

I had a similar situation with my 1940. Somebody arbitrarily picked a terminal on the cap to be #1 and then installed the wires in the correct order starting at that terminal. There is no reason to change it.

I marked the #1 terminal on the cap with white paint for future reference.

If I ever need to replace the wires, I would return it to the factory #1.

[Glen]

Harvey,  what has happened is the distributor was installed with the shaft 180 degrees out, the wires were installed to match the shaft position so your car runs good.  To fix this you will need to remove the distributor; rotate the shaft 180 degrees; reinstall the distributor; then move the wires to the new position and go through the timing process. 

As other have said why go to all that trouble if your car runs well now.  Maybe later when you need to remove the distributor for another reason then you can set it up by the book.