It's almost sounding like you're 180 off, by what you described.

Looking from the front does it look like either of these?
I'm not sure what size engine you have but I'll use a 289 and 351 as a reference.

289


351

 

I have a 302 engine but I assume the firing order is the same - it does look like I am off 180 degrees. If I move the engine around so the rotor is pointed toward #1 on the diagram, the dots on the cam & crankshaft are not aligned - does this make a difference?

 

Actually, when I hold my finger over the #1 cylinder, I also get some pressure at the point that where the #1 spark plug wire is - maybe I'll rotate the engine around until I get the pressure here (I wasn't aware that I would get pressure in the #1 cylinder two times in the rotation

 

I just went and rotated the engine around and the #1 piston is at the top of it's stroke in two places (I put my little finger in the spark plug hole and felt the piston). The piston was at the topright at the #1 spark plug wire hole per the diagram above (both the mark on the camshaft and the crankshaft were both at the top of their rotations) -when I rotated it around and got 180 degrees from the #1 spark plug hole, both of the marks were pointed to each other (so camshaft mark at the bottom of the rotation and the crankshaft at the top of it's rotation - so the marks were closest to each other). Does this sound right?

 

The marks will only line up at TDC. It doesn't matter where #1 is on your distributor, just plug the #1 wire into the hole where the rotor is pointing, then order the other plugs from there. I have number 1 on my distributor pointed directly at my #1 cylinder. I've had it pointed to #5, but my new wires were a hair too short.

 

Colorado, when you say the marks will only line up at TDC, do you mean the marks will be closest to each other (cam mark is at bottom of rotation and crank is at top of rotation) or do you mean they just need to line up (cam mark could be either at the top or bottom of rotation)? The piston itself is at the top in 2 places during the rotation, I would assume that one is intake and the other is exhaust - would this be right?

 

Bradley according to my haynes manual, you have the camshaft and crank shaft with the dot aligned so that they are pointing to each other

 

Here are 2 pic that show the timing marks where the piston is at the top of the stroke in cylinder #1:
[ol][*]"timing marks set for TDC" - this is where I think TDC is and the rotor is pointing at the #1 spark plug hole on the distributor in "Almost Stock"s diagram above - marks on BOTH the camshaft and the crankshaft are at the top of their rotation[*]"timing mark for exhaust stroke" - this is where the marks on the camshaft and the crankshaft are CLOSEST to each other[/ol]
Do I have this right? Love digital cameras and thanks for the help all!

[IMG]local://upfiles/34309/F10D065FC21C43E689FA2B7D8A6433E2.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]local://upfiles/34309/D40E5A4ED92C47D8B351D6B38A48016A.jpg[/IMG]

 

I thought the file names came through, the first pic above is TDC and the 2nd pic is exhaust stroke

 

bottom one is correct according to my manual can't upload the scan at present!!