small block oil priming question

TDC-----------I wish people would stop saying this so to speak

WHY

There is TDC and then there is TDC

No1 cylinder only fires every other turn of the crank, in other words, every other time that TDC comes up on the marks. So "TDC" is a 50-50 gamble.

You want No1 ready to fire

HOW? EASY

Pull the no1 plug. Bump or wrench the engine over while holding a finger in no1 plug hole. As soon as you start to feel compression, stop and then slowly bring the timing marks up BUT DO NOT set them right on TDC

RATHER stop rotation on WHERE YOU WANT the initial timing, say, 8BTC for a stocker, 12-15 for a mild cam and maybe 15 or maybe more depending on distributor curve for a wild cam

Now put the dist in with rotor pointing to no1 plug tower. Rotate dist. so that the body has lots of movement for adjustment, and is not banging on firewall, coil, or intake, etc. If the rotor is nowhere near the no1 tower, you either will have to use a different tower for no1 or else "walk" the drive gear up with a screwdriver and move it a tooth or two in whatever direction

Now with rotor at no1 tower you STILL ARE NOT DONE. Rotate the dist body CW (small block) which is retarded.

Now slowly rotate the dist CCW (advanced) until the points just break open or until the reluctor tip is in the center of the pickup coil. Check that the rotor is "just coming to" the no1 tower going CW, IE from left to right. Install plug wires and START IT UP

You can also check the timing on the starter after the cap is installed

There is never any reason to explode huge fireballs back through the carb, and there is never any reason to endlessly crank with the starter. It should fire right up