Engine Point question

TDC is when the piston is no longer travelling up or down at the top of the stroke. The mark on the balancer is supposed to line up with the "0" mark on the cover when the piston is at the right spot. Clearances between all the parts, and production tolerances on the balancer and cover mean this can sometimes be a little off. In a stock engine, not a big deal. In performacne engine, it could be an issue. For you, I would use a socket and turn the crank counter clockwise about 1/4 turn. Then, turn it in the forward direction to line up the balancer mark with the "0" line on the timing cover, and that is your top dead center point. You should have a scale of 10° before TDC and after TDC on that timing cover. So to time your engine beyond 10° initial timing, you will need a light that can be adjusted to read properly at higher initial timing settings.