My 68 327 was sitting for years. I am in the process of resurrecting the engine. I have gone through all the steps, pulled the distributor (marked the exact locations on dist housing and on the engine as well as rotor alignment pointing to distributor wire # 1 and timing mark at 0. used a lube tool to engage the oil pump to lube engine. Put back in distributor aligning with marks (engine was not rotated) still at 0. Car wont start, some mild pops, was able to get it going once with terrible vibration and roughness stalling when I let my foot off the gas after I set the timing back about 10 degrees.

Checked an article on line that was thorough and claims that there are 2 TDC strokes a power stroke and a compression stroke."Since you don't know which, place a finger over #1 spark plug hole, you are looking for vacuum. When you feel vacuum, the piston is pulling in mixture to compress, and therefore the next pressure you feel is that of the compression stroke. Keep ticking the starter until the timing marks line up and you will almost certainly be at TDC". Cranking as instructed finds my rotor pointing at distributor wire #6 on the compression stroke (180 degrees off). Since I was very careful to mark and align the distributor before removal I am totally puzzled how it could be that far off when reinstalled.yet the car wont start. I figured something like this should be straight forward but I have seen comments that dont agree with this 2 TDC line of thinking. I tempted to pull the distributor and reinstall 180 from where it is now but I cant imagine how it could have gotten that far off. Any suggestions?

 

Here is what I did... (and you are 180 degrees off it's pointing at #6 on the compression stroke)

Pull the #1 spark plug
Turn Engine by hand with finger over the spark plug hole
As the the timing mark is lining up, and you feel pressure coming out of the hole, you are on the compression stroke
line up the timing mark
make sure the distributor is in the #1 position, if not pull it your distributor is not in the correct spot

As far as being 180 out, the distributor (and cam) turn at half the speed of the crank. This means with timing mark lined up, the distributor can be in 2 different positions. Also, when using a timing light, it "blinks" every other revolution of the crank shaft.

So, there is 2 TDC's, but one is the compression stroke.

 

Thats the puzzling part when I find the compression stroke my rotor is pointing to position # 6 on the distributor. Since the engine was not disturbed before re installation its hard to imagine it could be that far off from its original position.

 

My suggestion is to pull the distributor, turn it 180 degrees, and re install it. If it runs, move on to setting the timing.

If it doesn't... your engine probably has other problems.

Good Luck

 

I just re-read your original post. I would bet that you were 180 out to start with.

"rotor alignment pointing to distributor wire # 1 and timing mark at 0"

#1 probably wasn't on it's compression stroke to begin with. Turning the oil pump doesn't move the crank or cam, so that can't be the issue.