ignition timing marks

[woodlandsale]

I can't see any timing marks on the crank pulley on my 96 (serpentine) Chim, in order to check static timing, which may have been set up wrongly by a previous owner. Even if I could find the marks, it looks almost impossible to turn the engine over using a socket on the pulley bolt. Can anyone say where the timing marks should be? That or any other advice gratefully accepted.

[rev-erend]

You need to remove the spark plugs to turn the engine over..

I use a thin screw driver in the spark plug no.1 hole to find approx. TDC.

If you remove the distributor cap and see when the rotor arm points at the no.1 lead you have TDC.

Then look for the crank mark .. and mark it against the pointer with white tipex.

If you want pin point accuracy - use a dial gauge.

[Hedgehopper]

This thread should help. You may need to wire brush the pulley clean to see the marks. Ignore the machined groove....it's just there to confuse you!

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=15&...

[phazed]

I use a ratchet breaker bar, short extension and a socket to turn the the engine over.

As said, clean up the pulley to see the marks.

[woodlandsale]

Thank you guys for such a quick response. As I suspected, a previous owner has taken the diz off and put it back in the wrong position; to be precise, one tooth (or more) the wrong way on the spiral drive dog, with the result that all of the HT leads had to move round one position clockwise. I discovered this only because I took a photo of the engine bay before starting to dismantle stuff for a winter refurb, and in close-up, I could see that no. 7 was in the socket belonging to no. 2 (according to the "bible" p.62). I didn't think of looking at the picture of course until I'd spent a couple of hours failing to get it going with the leads in the right positions.
There is a back-story and a moral to this: firstly I changed the diz cap and leads when I bought the car a year ago because it was shunting. That didn't help, but it ran. I'd carefully matched the positions of the leads in the new cap, to those on the old one, but I thought the cap had no locating lug on its bottom edge- in other words I fitted it 180deg out, and even though it can't have been sitting properly, it still ran, with the timing only secured by the clips. How the hell did I get away with that? When I reassembled everything after the refurb (basically getting the injectors done at Injectortune, and cleaning the engine compartment up), I refitted the HT leads according to the book, having failed to keep a record of where they were before.
Secondly the moral: 1: take photos and notes before stripping things down. 2: refer to rule 1!
I usually don't take many "before" pictures for data reference when restoring cars, on the assumption that the older they are, the more likely it will be that various thing will be wrong about them. Getting older doesn't necessarily mean getting any wiser!