After a recent breakdown and troubleshooting episode, I found out my problem was (mainly) electrical.
I took the distributor apart and cleaned/lubed it and it runs great now, but the ordeal got me thinking - it would be nice to have a spare distributor on hand. I found a good one with its own flange, so in theory I should now be able to swap out distributors anywhere I need to with a minimum of drama, but now that I’ve got the 2nd one cleaned up with new points, etc. in place, I’m trying to visualize exactly what steps I need to do to get the spare distributor set up so it is ready to go.
As I’m seeing it, I have to remove my existing distributor, crank the engine by hand to get it around to cylinder #1 at TDC, then set the timing “from scratch” using the spare distributor, but then I will be able to swap between the two units and the timing should be at least close, just by rotating the shaft until it drops in place, right?