Dgavin9

First off, I bought a parts 1994 Toyota pickup 22re, pulled motor, dropped into my 1990 pickup and then once running I realized it had a blown headgasket. My 1990 is just a cheap truck and I want to keep as much $$ out of it as possible. So I decided to do the head gasket replacement myself. Once I got the head off, I noticed that my exhaust valve on bottom of head for #2 cyl was blown open. Guess I could've done a compression test. Anywho, I had a spare head in the basement so threw new gasket and head one and started the build process. Got to the timing chain and realized the tensioner wasn't allowing me to put sprocket onto end of camshaft. Saw a video online on how to take timing cover off without taking head off so I did it.
In the process I replaced the crankshaft pulley so I could run A/C. I honestly do not believe the crank shaft / can shafts were lined up. I am still unsure of how to line them up properly but I just went with it. Got the timing chain on and restarted the build process.
Got to the distributor and realize I had no longer had my alignment marks since I replaced the head. So I tried to measure the marks on old head and transfer that to the new head. Finally got everything back together.
Crank it up.... nothing. Turns over all day. If I give it gas while it turns over there's some knocking noise. I have no idea what that is or where it's coming from as I don't have anyone here to help me and listen.
All advice/suggestions are greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance, Dillon

TC22RE

Could be noise from backfiring due to the distributor being 180 degrees out. If your crank and cam are timed properly, then at top dead center #1 (crank pulley mark should line up with the 0 on the timing cover) you can check your cam lobes on the #1 cylinder both point "down" (like an upside down V) towards the head, meaning both valves are closed. That would indicate you are on the compression stroke and you can then reinstall your distributor so either your marks line up, or at least the rotor points to the #1 plug on the cap. I would check that first =D If you are unsure whether your crankshaft and camshaft are timed properly let me know and I'll dig up a picture of what it should look like.

Flash319

Crank at tdc mark, the cam sprocket pin should be 12oclock. Your distributor rotor should be pointing at number one when you have it inscerted. I aim at the little bracket that holds the pickup coil plug since the cap is off. To get the cam sprockt on you sometimes have to rock the crank to get some slack out of the tensioner.