[Bob Gervais]

The distributor is not all that hard to do. You'll need a timing light, and a distributor wrench makes the job a lot easier. I'm pretty sure Autozones and the like rent timing lights if you don't have/can't borrow one. The Haynes manual actually covers the replacement of this pretty well, it may be worth it to pick one up.

Basically, you want to put the engine on top dead center on the #1 cylinder, on the compression stroke (piston at the top of the bore). If you take the spark plug out of the #1 cylinder, and have an assistant turn the crank with a wrench, you'll feel the compression when reaching TDC. Then, take off the cap and set it aside. Loosen the distributor clamp, and slide it out of the way. Note the general position of the distributor, take a picture if you need to. Pull the distributor up and out of the engine, and install the new one. Note that the oil pump is driven by the distributor shaft, you'll need to align that when installing. Also, the gears are helical cut, and the rotor will advance as you're installing that. You want to install it so that the rotor points at the #1 tower of the distributor cap when at TDC on #1.

Reinstall everything, snug the clamp, and check/set the timing.

Good luck!