Triumph Repair: 73 triumph spitfire dist., gear shaft, triumph spitfire

Question
QUESTION:  when setting the distributer can you set it 180 out.

ANSWER: Hi Ron,
No, the "Blade" on the bottom of the dist. shaft is off-set and can not be put in 180 deg out. However you can not count on the wires in the cap being where the factory had them as that would have been dependent on who ever had the dist. drive gear set.
Howard

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION:  What do you mean by having the drive gear set?My rebuilder did not set the drive gear or dist. What kind of problems might I incur?

Answer
The factory sets the distributor drive gear in a specific location but many mechanics just put it in anywhere and then they set the ignition timing and plug wire location in the cap where necessary to make the ignition timing correct. Thus #1 wire can end up anywhere as long as it is timed correctly.
If your mechanic didn't move the distributor drive gear and it ran before, then it has to run now, because you can't put the distributor in wrong as it will only engage the drive gear shaft in one position only.
Howard