Yep, that's chilton's way, and it's bass ackwards

The factory way is crank mark up, cam mark down, this is firing # 1
and the rotor should point to about the 5 o'clock position, then check
your valves in order, forget about the book, adjust #1, and rotate to the
next cylinder, firing order is 1,3,4,2  distributor rotates clockwise.

Good Luck
Wild

Be a couple of days before I get some back order parts installed and fire the machine up. Will let you know how it works out. Thankx Wild!

If the belt is already installed, you could set up the distributor running 180*
out, and not have to pull it down, your choice, it will run either way.

Wild

Yep, that's chilton's way, and it's bass ackwards

The factory way is crank mark up, cam mark down, this is firing # 1
and the rotor should point to about the 5 o'clock position, then check
your valves in order, forget about the book, adjust #1, and rotate to the
next cylinder, firing order is 1,3,4,2  distributor rotates clockwise.

Good Luck
Wild

If you are suggesting adjusting the valves one cylinder at a time (adjust #1, rotate crank 180, adjust #3, rotate crank 180, adjust #4, rotate crank 180, adjust #2), I would highly recommend not doing it that way.  For one, how do you know exactly where 180* is on the crank (no marks to line up).....I suppose you could "guess" but that isn't an accurate way to do anything.
It could be that the non-lobe part of the cam is precisely concentric and as long as you have the rocker "off the lobe", you don't have to be real precise on having the marks lined up.  But I prefer to do it where I can line up marks and I know I am going to get an accurate reading and a correct setting.
Adjusting the valves, per the FSM (or any correct repair manual), isn't hard to do at all.  And you are lining up marks to make sure the cam position is right where it is supposed to be, so you will get accurate readings.

With the crank mark at 12 and the cam mark at 6, that would be TDC on the compression stroke on #1.  So if you are standing at the passengers side front tire, looking at the distributor, shouldn't the rotor be pointing at about the 11:00 position and not at 5:00?  At least that is how I set them.
I guess it really doesn't matter, you can move the plug wires around and put them on whatever cap tower you want, so you can make any tower the "#1" tower.  So as long as the order is correct and the rotor is pointing right at a cap tower when any piston is at TDC on a compression stroke it will work.....but that can get really confusing.

Ehh, I been doing it this way for almost 30 years, I look at the distributor
and the cam lobes, as well as the compression of the pistons, I can tell, and
it really isn't hard, but if you are not sure on a valve adjustment, use a good
and reliable manual to be certain it's done correctly.

The factory, as far as I know, set's the #1 firing at about 5 o'clock, and there
is a small line on the distributor body in that spot I think if I remember right,
what ends up happening is the cam and crank get set to Chilton's specs and
the wires end up 180* out, but as you said, it really doesn't matter, it will run
fine as long as the firing order is correct

Wild

That's fine if it works for you.  But IMO, to tell a "newbie" to do it that way, may not be the best thing to do.  I don't know of any manual anywhere, that tells you to just look at cam lobes and the distributor to determine which valves to adjust.  I would think it would be better to tell them to do it the same way a manual tells them (a correct manual).  That way if they forget, or get confused, they have a reference to look in to remind them.
The FSM indicates the tower closest to the distributor adjustment bolt is #1.
Also, the replacement caps I have got have had the tower at 11:00 labeled as #1.