Triumph Repair: Spark plug wiring, spark plug wires, compression stroke

Question
Can you please give me a drawing of the distributor and the spark plug wires and what cylinder they go to? 1979 triumph spitfire  

Answer
Hi Jack,

A diagram will do you no good because it depends on what was done when the engine was apart last. It can be timed easily though. Do this,

Remove #1 spark plug and the distributor cap. Put the car in 4th gear (brake off on level ground) Use the front tire to roll the car forward while you hold your thumb over the open spark plug hole and watch which direction the distributor rotor rotates. As you roll forward you will feel strong compression forcing you thumb off of the hole. Stop and look at the timing marks on the front timing cover and the pulley. Roll the car very carefully to the TDC mark and stop.

You are now at TDC (Top Dead Center) of the compression stroke of #1 cylinder. Look at the distributor rotor and you already noted which way the rotor was turning and now the rotor has stopped pointing at #1 wire in the cap. Since you have established #1 and you already know the direction of rotation you just fill in the rest of the wire in the firing order (1,3.4,2- All inline 4 cylinder engines) This method works on all SI (Spark Ignited) engines. All inline 6 cylinder engines fire 1,5,3,6,2,4. V-8s and V-6s are individual to the manufacture.

Now you can time the wires on any car with any engine.

Howard