560 Gas firing order and how to tell which spark c

My dad was mowing some brush down by my house last night and he got too close to a tree with some fingery branches. One of the branches snagged the spark plug cables and pulled a 3 cables out of the distributor, one of the cables being the main distributor cable. So to make a long story short he did not label the other two cables when he put them back on and I could hear form my house that it didn't sound right so I came out to look. He must have put the two cables in the wrong places, but since he can't remember which ones they were, we are back to having six to choose from! Is there an easy way to tell from the distributor which cables go where? Is the distributor clockwise and what would be the first position? I think he has a manual that might have the firing order but if you know that for a 560 gas as well that would be helpful. Thanks!

-Tim

The pic is too small and not very good quality...not sure if this will do more harm than good but it might help a little.

Rotation of the distributor can easily be determined by removing the cap and turning the engine over briefly with the starter, while watching the rotor go around.

Cylinder #1 should be stamped into the top of the cap. If not, your Dad oughtta be able to remember if the #1 (front) cylinder was one of the ones whose cable got yanked.

You don't need to know which way the rotor goes around, and you don't need to know where #1 should be. There are only two possibilities. It will either read in the proper firing order clockwise or couterclockwise. Trace the plug wires from the plugs to the distributor cap. Draw yourself a picture. If you can't follow the numbers around the cap in the correct firing order in either direction, then swap the two that are out of place.

I've got my dad cleaning 40+ yrs of grease of the block so we can see the firing numbers :). Tonight I will go over and help him work out the two scenarios.

Dad doesn't know what wires were pulled because they were pulled at the distributor. He just plain doesn't remember. He was tired and it was late and he just didn't think about it. I appreciate your quick responses this morning.

-Tim

Just an idea, but find the four that are correct and fix the other two. Should be 153624 if I remember right.

He probably just reversed two wires.

Allan

Are the cylinders numbered front to back, starting with 1 at the front? This is kindof the same idea I was going to tell him, but I will probably end up doing it.

If your dad is sure that he only fingered two wires, I would try to find four that are correct; damn the rotation direction.

If you see that, just hook up the other two in the correct firing order in the same rotation that you find the others in.

Hope this makes sense,

Allan

You've been a great help to me. I think it was you that helped me when I was setting my tires out on my 400. I'll try your suggestions tonight and see how it goes.

-Tim