I blew the head gasket on my 85 with a 22r. I am ready to take the head off to get it to the machinist. I failed to put the truck at TDC on the compression stroke prior to taking the distributor off. I didn't move anything from the time I took it out. I put it back in and followed the Haynes guide to reaching TDC. The distributor was pointing to the #1 plug terminal like they said but now I am freaked that I already jacked something up. Any ideas?

 

as long as when you put it together you have the lines follow up on the timing chain from the crankshaft to the camshaft and then when you put the distributor back in you put it at the #1 plug terminal you should be fine.. i also do this.. excitement of seeing whats inside and you forget to take your time and do step by step.

 

Thanks bro. That is exactly what happened. I was pullin parts and taking pictures and lost track of procedure. I hope to get this thing done sooner than later. This is my first head gasket job and I have been doing it trial by fire style. I am sure this is just the start of my little brain farts.

Ben

 

I remove plug from #1 cyl then I use an old continuity tester which has a rubber end and stick it in the hole then with coil d/c I crank untill the loud pop of TDC compression forces the tester out. Then to be exact I think you can line up the ignition timing mark and zero on the pulley. ( It lines up twice in a complete cycle)