67Dart273 said

Using a piston stop is easy.

Remove the no1 plug, make sure the piston is "down," and install the device. Unhook the battery ground for safety

Wrench the engine over until the piston stops on the device. You may need to adjust the length the first time you try it. Once you set the length, devise a method (locknut) of making the plunger RIGID. Some aftermarket piston stops do not

Here's my homemade one I built in the 1970's!!!



Now, you are NOT trying to stop the piston at TDC, but rather "down some amount." This is not critical. When the piston stops, make an accurate, temporary mark on the balancer directly below TDC on the balancer.

Now rotate the engine CCW and do the same thing again. You will now have two temporary marks some distance apart. True TDC is 1/2 way between, and of course if your original mark is correct, that is where it will be

CAM TIMING. If you know the specs on your cam (cam card) you can estimate that procedure by looking at the factory manual

What year? is your car?

You can download some years manuals here:

http://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/showthread.php?p=1970088657

Get into the engine section, look for the cam / timing chain section and there's procedure to estimate chain wear and cam timing. This of course is for FACTORY cams, so if you have a wild duration thumper of a cam, you'll have to adjust the figures.

Here's a random card I found on the www, just to use / example




Notice that the intake (top right) opens at 8BTC. This is an easy figure, because after you have checked the timing marks you can easly "set up" 8--10* BTC. Just pull the valve cover and see if this happens-----------wrench the engine back some distance, and rotate CW slowly watching the no1 intake valve. When you see it move, stop, and see where the timing mark is.

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