318 timing mark
 

im trying to find TDC on my 318 in my 69 barracuda the motor is from a 1979 lebaron i put a newer style hei distributor on it. Is the mark on the harmonic balancer the half slash ? on it because it doesnt really line up, or there some other mark on the balancer?

is there some direction the rotor should be facing to find TDC

any tip or info would be much appreciated

your rotor should be facing towards the frt of the motor but if you remove no.1 plug which is driver side frt and put your thumb or finger over the hole and bump the ignition when compression stroke comes up it should want to blow your finger off of it keep a eye on your timing tab or unless it is on the pass side of the timing cover you might need some extra help to watch line the line up with '0' tdc and that should put you in the ballpark your rotor button should be pointing to the front of the block now that is on a points or electric distributer not sure of a hei set up check on your hei instructions to see if it is any different if you try to start it and it wants to backfire or just plain goofy stuff your 180' out take dist out and turn the shaft the other way they try it again

p.s not exactly sure on this but i had a newer 318 around your yr in a 68 dart it had the lean burn system on it and the timing mark was on the pass side as with the tab on the timing cover i also had to swap the water pump from the original 273 that was in it in order to line up to the lower radiator hose i dont know for sure if the lean burn system had a different location for the timing mark or why it was on the pass side maybe doc could inlighten us on that matter

318
 

its a pro comp distributor i bought of of ebay the rotor points to the throttle linkage on the back of the intake when piston is all the way up on #1,,and the mark on the harmonic balancer is off about 20 degrees from the "0" mark on driver side of the timing cover

TDC of #1 should be with the slash on the dampner .... on the little hole on the timing cover WITH the valves closed. You have to conform this with a plug out OR the valve-cover off.