When looking down on it: clockwise
Turn it to the opposite direction that the rotor rotates.
The crank for a 350 Chevy turns clockwise or to your right if standing in front of the motor .
Rotor Under Cap Spins: Clockwise
That is because of the way the gear on the distributor and camshaft is tapered. If you turn it the other way it will pull the camshaft towards the rear of the engine. That is all normal. When you put it all together it won't do that.
Timing chain may have broke or jumped and the pistons are hitting open valves.
Clockwise. The 72 Chevy 350 engine did not come stock with a HEI unit. No matter, the rotor still spins clockwise.
Just turn the engine over while you are pushing on the rod with your finger until the rod goes up in the block and starts to come back down then stop, and install fuel pump. Turn engine by hand. Put a ratchet and socket on the balancer bolt in the middle of the bottom pulley. Turn it that way.
The 1970 engine had higher compression, but the big difference is in the way horsepower was calculated. In actuality, the 1970 was only a little more powerful than the 1977.
1967, 2 bolt main bearing, small crank wrong way
The arrows point to the front of the engine.
The 350 10066036 engine rotates clockwise when viewed from the front of the engine.