Take No 1 plug out and hold a finger loosely in the hole and turn the engine over by hand. When you start to feel compression slowly align the timing mark if it is in the area. Once aligned that is where your distributor should also point to No. 1 on the cap wiring. It's highly unlikely your damper would spin 180 degrees out. Sounds more like an improper distributor insertion.

Are you using the correct firing order & starting on the passenger side front?  It's 1,5,4,8,6 3,7,2 & not a sbc firing order... 


Paul

  I thought I read in the manual that rotor is to back.Mine points to pass side rear tire.I am sure it is in 56 shop manual.I think you must be 180 out.
    Dave

Just wondering if this engine is currently running, and not to insult you but are you sure you are looking at number one cylinder. How did you come to notice the flywheel was incorrect

Here’s the drawing that shows the relationship of the key slot in the damper versus the TDC mark.
 

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)

The damping mass is the part that slips.  That is the disk of metal behind the pulley.  You cannot replace that yourself.  You either get a new damper or send yours out for rebuild.



Lawrenceville, GA

So how does the damper slip if it's got that key?

The damper has a slot in it which fits over a woodruff key in the crank so the damper will only go on one way.  There is no need to have the crank in any particular orientation for the job.



Lawrenceville, GA

When installing damper do I put #1 cylinder tdc with rotor on spark plug one and install at 0 degrees? Thank you for your time. It is a 1957 fairlane 500 4 door 292

Assuming the piston is at TDC and the damper marks are somewhere else, then a damper replacement is in order.  With the #1 piston at TDC, double check that the valves on the #1 or #6 cylinder are at overlap.  This is where both valves are slightly depressed with the exhaust valve almost closed and the intake valve just starting to open.  If the rotor is pointing to the #1 spark plug wire in the cap, then it will be the #6 cylinder that will be at valve overlap.
 
I would recommend a new damper in lieu of getting the original repaired assuming this is a car or pickup.  If it’s a Thunderbird, then get the damper rebuilt.  To remove the damper, you’ll need to remove the damper bolt and then use a puller to remove the damper from the crankshaft.  Use of a damper installer tool or a long threaded bolt should be used to install the damper back on the crankshaft.  Do not use a hammer.

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)