I have a 400 cid motor in a 57 chevy I bought. The motor runs good and starts right up everytime. I tried to check the timing because it seemed a little advanced. With the light I couldn't see the mark on the damper. I figured it was painted over and dirty.
I recently pulled the motor. I'm going to change out the distributor from a HEI to a smaller MSD billet because of clearence issues at the firewall. With the engine on the stand I removed the valve cover on the #1 cylinder side. I removed the #1 cylinder spark plug and rotated the crank untill I felt air coming out of the hole. I checked the valves and they were both closed at the #1 cylinder indicating compression stroke. The distributor was also pointing at the #1 cylinder.
My problem is the timing mark on the damper was about 90 degrees to the left of the timing tab. (counterclockwise). I've read that when you position the crank the key should be in the 2:00 position. It looks like mine is in the 9- 10:00 position. That's why I couldn't see the mark when I tried to time it.
Can I leave it that way, degree the camshaft and mark the damper to the timing tab? I notice that the damper is balanced. With the piston at the TDC at #1 is the damper balanced to that position?

Thankyou,

Ralph