i did many searches, and did'nt see anything

i am trying to set my idle speed for the first time, and in my haynes manual it said to get a handheld tachometer, so i got one, and i understand the instructions on the whole idle setting procedure, but i got stumped when i was going to hook the handheld tachometer up, cause it said to hook up one clip to the batter post, and one to the ignition coil terminal (-), and after looking in my book, it looks like the ignition coil is inside my distributor? ................s this correct, ...........can you confirm this please? my friend could'nt believe the coil was in the distributor, and he was telling me (there is no way it is in there), lol, but he is an american car guy, so i don't blame him.

so, basically, if this is true, and the coil is inside the distributor, then how the hell would i run the car and check the idle while the handheld tachometer is hooked up?
cause obviously i could'nt have the car running with the distributor cap off right?

can anyone clear my confusion up on this? thnx

 

on your diz theres a black and a blue wire. The blue wire is for the tach signal to the ECU you can tap into that or your gonna have to run a wire from the - terminal thru the housing. Take the gasket off to set it then replace it.

 

when you say "tap into it" do you mean just put the clip from my handheld tachometer onto the blue wire?................ basically i just need to hook this tachometer reader up, and in order to do it, i need one of the clips to hook to the blue wire on the dizzy, but the thing is, i just need to know if i can just clip it on only the blue wire part? or do i have to clip on the terminal, (which is inside the dizzy), and were saying to take the gasket off the distributor? and just hook the tach machine up with a wire coming out of that gasket space, while the diz is still attached????, just trying to understand correctly, but thanks for the input

 

you would accually have to tap into the wire, cut some of the plastic/rubber insulation off it then clip it then tape it back when done. The other way, take the cap off, theres a rubber gasket and you can remove it and have it coming out the hole then onces its all set replace it.

 

alright, thanks a bunch, that really helps me out, especially since you gave me detail, cause some people just answer with like two words and actually expect you to understand it, lol, but i understood you.