I want to change my distributor on my 289 but I can't even find the damn timing marks. I feel like an idiot. Am I even looking in the right place? I don't even see the timing index. Here's a pic of what I'm looking at. I should see it there on the crankshaft pulley, right? I turned the engine over and looked all around it, but didn't see it.

 

Sorry, here's the pic

[IMG]local://upfiles/77098/26536860084740AC8E6F6DFB1270C81A.jpg[/IMG]

 

It should be on the cranke somewhere, stamped into it. If you absolutely cannot find it, you can create a mark with paint, put a timing light on it and see what it lines up with and use that same reference to set the timing back to its existing state.

Take a closer look and use a toothbrush and some cleaner. It has to be there somewhere.

Good luck!
Jeff

 

Am I at least looking in the right place as shown in the pic? I don't see anything that looks like an index pointer either.

 

The timing marks are on the dampener. They are usually stamped pretty shallow and may be hard to read through the dirt and surface rust.
On some engines the indicator is integral to the timing cover, others have a separate stamped sheet metal indicator.
It's possible someone reinstalled the timing cover and forgot the little sheet metal indicator.

You can always eye-ball it by setting the number 1 cylinder to TDC.

Here's a shot of my '67 289. Easy to get the shot since the engine's out of the car at the moment.

 

I finally found the timing marks. I held a steel bristle brush soaked with oil on the dampener from under the car while the car was running. After a couple of minutes I was finally able to see the marks. Like Roland said, they are pretty shallow. I can see the letters "TDC" and numbers that appear to be 3, 6, 9, and 12. I assume those numbers indicate degrees BTDC, correct? But I still haven't found the indicator, or pointer. So how would you set the timing? Just set it by how the engine runs?
Here's a couple of pics of what I'm looking at.

[IMG]local://upfiles/77098/88806063F0F44344A6F045E1C6DD50DD.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]local://upfiles/77098/E851FC3E9FD74F52A4E6F7F2AB2EBC46.jpg[/IMG]

 

Looks like you need this:
small block V8 timing indicator