As long as you keep the firing order correct and the correct rotation is taken into acct when you wire it up, it doens't matter which one of those towers is the #1 plug. Pre cut wires will not work however, you would need cut to length wires.
You don't need to remove the distributor to reset timing to 0, you just have to know how to do it right. Here's 11 steps ...
1. Mark the tower you want to be the #1 tower onto the base of the distributor.
2. Pull cap, wires off cap (leave ends at spark plugs connected) and #1 plug from the head,
3. Crank engine over until you start to feel/hear/see compression on the #1 cylinder.
4. Using a flywheel tool, screw driver, breaker bar or what ever else your heart desires, manually bring the TDC mark on the balancer up to match the TDC mark on the timing tab.
5. Loosen the hold down clamp on the base of the distributor
6. Adjust the distributor base until the mark you made in step #1 lines up with the rotor tip (most people want the #1 plug tower to fall somewhere around the 5 o'clock position, roughly pointing at the #1 plug in the engine)
7. Loosely tighten the hold down, replace #1 plug, replace cap, replace #1 wire paying attention that the #1 plug you marked is actually going to #1
8. Replace the wires one by one around the cap
9. Pull timing computer wire under passengers side dash.
10. Hook up timing light, start engine, verify timing is at 0 degrees (your ECM is disconnected and will not adjust, any adjustment needed here is achieved by rotating the distributor base)
11. Once 0 is achieved torque hold down bolt to proper specs and reconnect the timing wire.
Optional: 12. Grab beer, log on to tahoeyukonfourm.com and thank me for getting your junk running right.
http://www.route66wingsandwheels.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=2355&p=19116
