TIMING/TDC

[onecustom73]

Before i check my timing with a light i pulled my cap off to see where the rotor was pointing,and my ? is shoudnt be pointing at the number 1 cyclinder,which would be the front right of the motor is you where to be standing in front of the truck looking right back at the distributor at TDC,mine is pointing almost right down the middle of the intake,actually just a smidge to the left more,do i need to pull distributor out and try to drop it in a notch or to back intill its lined up to the #1 cylinder,thanks for any help guys,nice weather here so i thought i check her out today!

[frogman68]

Not all the time depends on what cylinder it shut off on

[Captkaos]

It doesn't matter where it points as long as when it is on TDC it is pointed to the post with the #1 plug on it.

[HAULIN IT]

On the compression stroke

[eventhorizon66]

BTW the easy way to determine if you are at TDCC (top dead center compression) is to pull the #1 plug and loosely plug the hole with the tip of your finger.  Turn the engine with a breaker bar on the dampner bolt until you clearly feel and hear air forced past your finger.  Then line the dampner mark up with the 4°-8° BTDC mark on this same stroke.  Then you still have to set your timing with the engine running.

But if the dist is already in, go ahead and check it with a light first.  Unless you can't set the proper timing without the vacuum advance canister hitting the manifold, you're good to go.