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Finding TDC for piston #1

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Old Oct 23, 2018 | 12:40 PM
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Default Finding TDC for piston #1

In order to "properly" torque the rocker bolts I first have to find TDC for piston #1. Can I do that by pumping up another cylinder with air? And what # cylinder would that be? When I pumped up the cylinders with air to swap out valve springs, it sounded like the whole engine turned over, but I might be wrong on that.
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Old Oct 23, 2018 | 06:47 PM
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stock rockers?... if so don't waste your time setting it to tdc, just go down the line and tighten them
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Old Oct 23, 2018 | 07:00 PM
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No. You want to rotate the crank itself. There are various ways of doing this, the simplest is to stick a rod through the spark plug hole to feel the piston top, get it to near tdc, and fine-tune by hand till you're satisfied. A better way includes using a gauge to measure the height of said rod, or otherwise measure the height of the piston, and move to (eg) 60 thou before tdc and 60 thou past tdc and split the difference.
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Old Oct 23, 2018 | 07:17 PM
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Originally Posted by Spaggs
In order to "properly" torque the rocker bolts I first have to find TDC for piston #1. Can I do that by pumping up another cylinder with air? And what # cylinder would that be? When I pumped up the cylinders with air to swap out valve springs, it sounded like the whole engine turned over, but I might be wrong on that.
Spaggs
Since You're tightening the rockers, I'm guessing you have the valve covers off. If that's the case, it's pretty easy. Watch the rockers on the intake and exhaust valves on cylinder #6. You want to position the thing where the exhaust valve on cylinder #6 just closes, right before the intake valve on cylinder # 6 opens. That's when #6 is at TDC between the exhaust and intake strokes, and since #1 is exactly opposite #6 in the firing order, #1 will also be TDC between compression and power strokes at that position.
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Old Oct 23, 2018 | 09:34 PM
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Thanks for the help. I think I figured it out with your help.
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