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You can run No. 1 plug wire to a spare spark plug set loose on the engine exterior, where you can see and hear the spark jump. The Pertronix unit opens the circuit to cause a spark same as points do, based on rotational position, not on speed of motion, so the engine need not be cranking or running. Push the car ahead in top gear to have the crank drive the cam and oil pump, to take up all gear backlash, and stop it with the timing marks lined up. By hand turn the loosened distributor body opposite to the direction the rotor turns. Where the test spark plug fires is static timing at the timing mark chosen. Then set it with the engine running.
Once you have got that done, check that the rotor tip inside the distributor will adequately register with the correct terminal inside the distributor cap for all positions of spark advance. It might be that the distributor body is in a somewhat different rotational position with the Pertronix unit than it was with the points. This happened to me with an 8-cyl Ford distributor, due to the non-adjustible position the Pertronix unit was fastened to the breaker plate, but it was not enough to be a big problem. I installed the cap as far as possible in the direction the rotor had shifted toward. Very satisfied with the engine behavior with the Pertronix.
Once you have the distributor position set, temporarily mark on the distributor body the No 1 cap terminal position. You can test rotor position for no advance and fully advanced spark, with the engine stopped. Take the distributor cap off. By hand, move the rotor and its shaft ahead against the centrifugal advance spring return pressure. See if the business end of the rotor still is passing by the cap terminal position, because the spark current has to jump between them. You can even test for static distrib body position when a spark occurs, without having the cap on. Run the coil center wire directly to a loose spark plug, not to the cap center. See where the rotor tip is when the spark happens, and that it is not in between two cap terminals.
Charles Greenlaw, Sacramento Cal
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