Had sporadic chances to work on the engine over the last few days. In that time, I painted the timing marks on the fan (and the fins near the marks), cleaned & inspected the throttle body & intake manifold, reset the distributor drive to the correct angle (12 degrees), helicoiled the CHT hole and installed the CHT, and reinstalled the cooling shrouds.
It turns out that a long, slender pair of c-clip pliers work great for pulling the distributor drive. Also, I rotated the engine on the stand so the distributor drive was exactly vertical, so the thrust washer under the drive wouldn't move around and fall into the case.
Also, I just installed an old 012 CHT. I'm still trying to find a good, used 017 CHT at a reasonable price, and the car came with a generic 012, so I'll try this for now.
I also discovered there's an oil leak somewhere on the front of the engine, so I'll be pulling the front shroud pieces back off and probably the engine mount bar too. At this point, it looks like the leak might be from the bolts that hold the mount brackets to the engine case.