If you are referring to the rod that you turn the screw at the top that hold the Dist. Cap down yes.
I am seeing a condenser that could be as old as I am in this photo. The rotor needs to make contact with the metal posts on the underside of the Dist. Cap. It can't do that the way it looks in the photo the metal clip on the rotor in the pic is not installed it will need to make contact with those posts.
If the Points in this thing are old they should be replaced as well. Then the Coil could be an issue as well.

 

The rotor is trash. No wonder it doesn't run. It is missing the metal pieces to distribute spark to each cylinder. Question is, where did it go? Look if it's down in the distributor. Might also want to check the hei cap if the center coal piece s gone as well. Hei distributor should have no points to replace.

 

pic of a new rotor, see what's missing...

 

So, is it running again?