Quote Originally Posted by 34_40 View Post
Don not trust the timing pointer or marks at this point. (no pun intended!) Remove #1 spark plug and bring the piston to TDC at the end of the compression stroke. Verify your marks now! If you need to, you can purchase "timing tape" to "re-calibrate" your damper. Or check the condition of your damper and verify you've installed the correct pointer. Ford did some funny things with dampers too. If the engine was to be inserted into a cube van it would use a different pointer and damper so you could verify timing from above and other stuff like that. I found it was easier to "re-calibrate" my damper with timing tape so I could time the engine on the opposite side away from the alternator. Hope that helps.
34 -40 good to know. The timing pointer is from old engine, the timing chain cover is aftermarket from Dorman(sold through Summit) and the block is a rebuilt one from Spokane. So could be that this is an issue.