The car is running right now but is missing badly. I'm not 100% sure that the timing is at fault, but something is definitely amiss. Any time I try to start from scratch and follow standard procedure for setting initial timing, the motor won't start, and I have to put the rotor back in this crazy configuration. Can anyone make any sense of this?

Someone will probably ask how I found TDC, so I'll answer in advance:

1) I cranked the motor over by hand until air was being pushed out of the spark plug hole.

2) I inserted a coat hanger into the cylinder and cranked until the wire came to its highest position.

3) When the wire started to go back down, I bumped it back to it's highest position.

As an interesting side note, I can no longer crank it by hand. It was really hard to turn even with the plugs out, and now instead of the pulley bolt turning the crank, it is just digging into the hole that it is screwing into. It's hard to explain, but basically it is not tightening down...just marring the metal and screwing further in. Is there supposed to be a metal washer there to prevent that or is it possibly the incorrect bolt? It has a 5/8" head.

Thanks,
John


http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f380/johndoby/TimingDilemma.jpg

there is a washer for the bolt that goes into the crank pulley. The harmonic balancer has a rubber ring inside that sometimes rotates and messes with your timing mark. Rotor should point to number one cylinder. try take off valve cover and put a tissue in the number one cylinder, rotate the crank until it blows out the tissue (it should make a pop noise) this will get you close to TDC. Both number one rocker arms should be loose at this time because the valves are closed.
Double check all wires as you put them back, common mistake is to mix the 5 and 7 plug wire locations. good luck any questions shoot an e-mail

It sounds like you have stripped the threads in the crank where the bolt goes. You say it just spins and isn't getting tighter? That is not good. Take the bolt out and have a look at it. I wouldn't try to turn the engine over anymore without further investigation.I also think you have a problem with the dampner having spun.

First Guess: You have the wrong damper to match up with the timing pointer.

Some of the newer engines have the timing pointer set up so you have to point the light almost straight down behind the water pump to set timing. That'd match up pretty well with your diagram.

First Guess: You have the wrong damper to match up with the timing pointer.

Some of the newer engines have the timing pointer set up so you have to point the light almost straight down behind the water pump to set timing. That'd match up pretty well with your diagram.

^^^what he said^^^

and your method of finding tdc isn't very accurate- buy or make a piston stop and find the real TDC and mark it.. it's easy to do..
a piston stop is a simple device- i made one out of a gutted spark plug body with a 3/8" bolt with the head ground off threaded into it.
tturn the motor back about 90 degrees from where you think TDC is and put the piston stop in the #1 plug hole.
slowly turn the motor over clockwise until it stops, and mark the balancer right at the "0" mark. then turn it the opposite direction until it hits again and make another mark at "0".. true TDC is exactly halfway between these two marks- make a good mark with a sharpie and use that to set your timing.

as for the stripped crank bolt, you might need to either heli coil the hole back to the stock size or tap it out to the next bigger bolt size.