Nope, just stick the pencil through the spark plug hole.

 

turn the crank by hand using a rachet make sure to get on the compression stroke
as you turn it put your finger over the spark plug hole to make sure it is on compression
when you feel the air coming out then you know and use a slender screw driver not a pencil you dont want it falling inside the cylinder

 

ok so use a screwdriver nad ill be able to feel the top of the piston with it through that hole?

 

Take out the #1 spark plug. Have someone put their finger over the hole. Rotate the engine by hand w/ a breaker bar or the like and rotate it until there is pressure pushing out the #1 hole. You are now on the compression stroke just before top dead center. Continue rotating until the timing pointer on the crank reads 0.

 

ahh thats a good idea, and if i rember right the dampner is keyed so it will be correct right?

 

Yes.

 

i appreciat ehte help, i HAVE to get this **** figured out by tuesday i leave for college sooo, tomarrow im hoping ot get it into a dyno shop to get it tuned, jsut trying to get it CLOSE now!

 

ok got air commin out of the 1 cylinder spark hole, got the dampiner "0" on the timing line, so now i take out the distributor nad set the arm on the top to the #1 spark plug on the cap?

 

ok got pics of the new setting for it. the crank is at 0 so the number one sould be at TDC, i took the dist. out and rotated the inside piece back untill it could slide back down into the block. this is how it looks.

[IMG][/IMG]
here you can see the tip of the inside
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can see how the tip lines up with the number one plug
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[IMG][/IMG]

does it look setup right??

 

isn't it supposed to be pointed straight back? I could be wrong, though (and probably am wrong).