[supernaughtix]

96 Golf CL
Some monkey overfilled my gf's golf during an oil change.
Blew black smoke and ran like garbage(barely at all)
So I drained overnight and refilled today.
Started it and found it was running rough, but not as bad as before and the smoke was dwindling. Good.

Things the mechanic f$&%ed up:
Left the filler cap off, so gf drove all the way home with oil splashing all over engine bay;
removed timing belt cover for some reason and did not reinstall correctly;
removed distributor cap and did not reconnect it properly. It was loose. the 2 clips were not engaged;

So.
I tried to set the dist back to where it says in the Haynes manual, using the rotor pointing to the cyl 1 mark on the small plastic ring under the cap.
Wires have not been changed and I am sure they are set in the right order 1,3,4,2

But now that I have tightened it down, its awful, popping and sputtering, misfiring all over, not impressed.

Why is there no easy alignment notches or screws in this dist cap and how do I set it correctly?

Can I simply hold it while she tries to start and carefully rotate the cap by hand until it catches nice and smooth? (a few deg at a time)


Please, im in a tight spot. Any suggestions will be taken into account.
Cheers