2, 10, & 11o'clock timing, relative or absolute?

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by 2003SV

I'm about as unconfident (and maybe INCOMPETENT) as never before. I haven't worked on a ton of motors but I've completely rebuilt several, including a pretty darn complicated inline 4 cylinder motor engine. I just haven't run across anything like this before...

This is really not hard -- you can do it. Here are the steps I use and you don't have to turn the engine backwards. This will get you within a degree, and usually right on the money, for finding TDC and it's the easiest way. The only way you can screw something up is to leave the piston stop tool in the plug hole when you start the car up. So, just to be safe, hide the ignition key somewhere else until you remove the tool.

1) Put a pointer, any pointer, aimed at an easily reached spot on your balancer.

2) Put a stick in your #1 spark plug hole and using your wrench on the crank bolt, rotate your engine until you are just past TDC (piston is heading back down the hole so the stick is headed back down).

3) Remove your stick and insert your piston stop and screw the little screw part down until it touches the top of your piston and goes no further. Don't muscle it, handshake tight is fine.

3) Put timing tape, or even just plain old masking tape, on your balancer with a mark aimed at your make shift pointer. If you're using timing tape, put the zero mark of the tape at the pointer.

4) Rotate the engine in the normal direction all the way around until it stops again because of the piston stop. Make another mark where the pointer is aimed at. If you are using timing tape, note the number (for instance, 24 degrees). The middle point between the two marks is TDC. If you are using timing tape, just divide the two number by two ( in this example it is 12 degrees). If you're using plain old masking tape, then just measure the middle point between the two marks -- that's TDC.

5) Remove your piston stop and rotate the engine a little bit farther to that half way point (in this example, 12 degrees).

6) You are now at TDC.

Note -- you can get reasonably close to true timing marks on an unmarked balancer just by using your wife's sewing tape to measure the circumference of the balancer and then do the math to find degrees. That's not going to be perfect, but it'll be darn close.