The other day I was helping my buddy do a tune up on his 87 sammy and we decided to do the timing since we saw the previous owner had it set all the way counter clockwise.  We marked the notch in the crankshaft balancer and let the engine warm up and idle.  Using two timing guns with the triggers on the front spark plug wire the timing was an inch to left (standing in front of vehicle) of the timing section on the timing cover!  Turning the distributor clockwise would bring it closer to the timing section but the engine would slow and run rough and die.  Right now the distributor has to be turned all the way counter clockwise to run.  We rotated the crank to what seemed to be tdc and the rotor was pointed to the #1 post on the cap.  What the heck is wrong? 

Most likely the PO pulled the distributor out of the distributor housing and put it back in the wrong orientation.  Even though the rotor is pointing to #1, this engine is probably not at TDC.

At TDC the rotor is pointing at cylinder #1.  When the distributor is pulled out - the distributor must be reinserted and still pointing at cylinder #1.  In other words, the gear at the bottom of the distributor must engage the gears end of the camshaft in the relationship as before. 

This is how I fixed my Sammy.  Mark the clock position of the rotor, pull up on the distributor and reinsert with the rotor pointing at a new position (either clockwise or counter clockwise).  You will feel the gears slip in on the next notch. 

Then check the timing.  If that doesn't work, try going the other way.  HTH. 

Also, check the o'ring while you have it out.

Sounds like the distributor is off 1 tooth.  As mentioned, pull the disty, and move it 1 tooth either left or right and set it back in the "center" position (with everything in the correct position, 10* is right at the center of the disty adjustment range).  If it is off even worse, the pull the disty again and move it 1 tooth the other way (it will actually be 2 teeth now, since you moved it 1 more tooth the wrong direction).

when i first got suzi, the dist. had to be cranked all the way to one side to set ignition timing.
p.o. had bolted the cam gear on without locating the pin on the end of the cam into the hole on the sprocket. only off a little, and the thing ran ok......
i had to get a new sprocket('cause the hole got squeezed by the pin- almost made a new hole), and now dist. is in correct position.
this could probably happen if belt skipped also?
richard

I have been thinking and it seems like a timing belt being off a tooth makes sense versus the distributor.  When turning the distributor back when the engine was degrading we got a lot of pops and backfires.  i am thinking that could be because it was firing with the valves open.  I supose it could be either.  My buddy ordered a timing belt since they are cheap and easy to put on and we'll start checking that out.  Then move to the distributor.