how do i put the distibutor in an 01 mitz eclips 3.0 the plug wiers were to short so my cuzin puled it out tuerned it and put it backthe car iidles but the exaust tuerned red and caught fire

I have been asked to fix my cousins 2001 mitsubishi eclipse after she had done the valve cover gaskets, the car ran before this with a rough idle and kind of stumbled, the following day I hooked up my ob2 scanner and was allowing the car to warm up, to run tests in which the front section of the exaust system turned RED and then caught fire after further inspection she has also replaced the plugs with Bosch  double platinum, and the wires. the distributor cap is cracked and the roter contact is chewed up severly. the firing order is wrong and it appears the distributor has been removed and put back on incorrectly. As I stand at the driver side fender and look at the distributor, the lower left plug terminal on the distributor cap is labled #6 the book says it should be #1.
after purchusing a new cap, and setting the #1 piston to top dead center how do I know how to put the distributor in the motor to should the contact of the rotor be pointing at the#1 terminal of the cap and do I procede with the firing order 123456 clockwise from there?