I am using the early timing cover from the 289 on my 69 302 should the timing be set at 6 degrees behinde tdc? or right on tdc?

 

i believe its goin to be 6 deg BTDC, but your aftermarket setup may be a little different. you gotta play with it to get it properly timed.

 

I am pretty sure the covers and pointer are the same. 6-8 degrees BTC should do it.

 

Somewhere between 6 and 10 BTDC. Mine is right at 10 and she runs like a scared rabbit with no pinging.

 

The pointers are not in the same place on a 289 and a 302. If you are using the 289 cover and the 302 harmonic balancer it will not work.

 

I am using the timing cover from my 289 and the harmonic balancer aswell from teh 289

 

if you need to know if the marker actually points to dead center, then I couldn't think of another way then get rid of spark plug,
stick a welding wire down the thing and see for yourself where te piston has dead center (while turning the crank)