need help finding TDC. please.

Pull the no 1 sparkplug, and turn the engine over by hand, or with the starter, or preferably, have someone else turn it. You put a finger or thumb over the no 1 sparkplug hole. When you feel compression building up, you are near tdc, no 1, on the firing stroke. From there, just take it by wrench until the marks on the balancer are lined up.

Then you can install the dist.

If you use the wrench on the crank bolt, make sure that you remove it each time you stop, it is dangerous if you crank the engine with the wrench on.

yeah what he said. but you HAVE to do it by hand with your finger in the plug hole. dont just move the balancer to 0 because it passes it twice on each cylinder. so if you put it to 0 without feeling for the compression, you have a 50/50 chance of being either at TDC or 180 out

Here's an easier way... Take the balancer to the point where the pointer is pointing at 0 degrees. You can do this by bumping the ignition switch until the pointer is close to 0, then put the car in gear in 5th if its a 5-speed and push it back or forward to get the mark just right. Now, put the distributor in with the rotor pointed at the #1 plug wire. Try to crank the car. If it doesn't crank, you're probably 180 degrees out, so turn the rotor 180 degrees from its current position when you remove the rotor cap, and try to start it again... I've used this method NUMEROUS times... None of that pulling a plug and waiting to feel pressure; that's just annoying...