We didn't just eyeball it we used the piston stop tool but before we used it we tried to eyeball it. Yes I did pull the plugs first. Its just really tight.

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2006 Jeep Commander
2013 Chrysler 200

1964 Valiant 4 Door
1965 Plymouth Barracuda
1967 Chevy Camaro

Maybe this will help understand what they are talking about.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQvBaOLbfHQ

Dave

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86 Miser 170,000+
2 1/4" exhaust
Holley 1920 #55
HEI MSD BLaster 2
17.8 mpg

Ok, one last try and I will stop beating a dead horse.

When you determined where TDC was on the motor to make the mark on the block and to set the lash, did you base it on the eyeballed position of the piston or did you base it on installing the piston stop tool and turning the crank until the piston stopped?

I am concerned because eyeballing it isn't accurate enough and installing the tool and turning the crank until it stops won't put the piston at TDC.

If you are happy with how your motor is running and confident that you have TDC marked correctly and have accurately set the lash then you can tell me to shove it and ignore my questions.

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Casually looking for a Clifford hyperpak intake for cheap.

Okay Reed I just watched a video on a piston stop tool and I see your concern now. I also watched xjarheads degreeing cam video and I see the concern. I can tell you I don't think I am so far off I need to pull the motor and degree the cam and honestly it is VERY hard for me to get help so I don't really want to pull the engine. I am going to check TDC again with a piston stop. When my friend used it I did not know how to use it but I see now he did not use it right.

I am fairly happy with where the engine is but I do think there is more left in the cam and performance and I want to eek that out.

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2006 Jeep Commander
2013 Chrysler 200

1964 Valiant 4 Door
1965 Plymouth Barracuda
1967 Chevy Camaro

Well, I'm really glad it seems to be running good for you!
You put fresh fuel in it eh? A lot of people are surprised how fast some fuel goes "off".
If you really want to eek out every bit of that cam, you will at the very least need to know where it's set.
You can check it in car without taking anything other than the valve cover off. Now you can take some time to review the videos and see how it's done.
Enjoy it,

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Mattelderca
78 NYB (gone now), two S series, three old Snow Cruisers and a Doo.

First off Reed I want to thank you for pushing me to check TDC again. I bought a piston stop tool from autozone and received it today. Tonight I fiddled with it and I am within a few degrees of TDC now VERY VERY much workable now. I adjusted the distributor and we started up almost instantly. I fine tuned it and am in about the 10 degrees BTDC range. Hard to see the tab markings. Running a lot better though. I have some valve chatter so the valves need to be adjusted and I think after that it will definitely help smooth the idle out.

Second question the vacuum gauge is jumping between 15 and 20 inches will adjusting the valves also help settle that down? I am thinking it will.

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2006 Jeep Commander
2013 Chrysler 200

1964 Valiant 4 Door
1965 Plymouth Barracuda
1967 Chevy Camaro

Hooray. 15-20 inches of vacuum is an improvement. Adjusting the valves should improve the vacuum readings. It should increase the vacuum and smooth out the fluctuations.

_________________
Casually looking for a Clifford hyperpak intake for cheap.

Awesome to late at night out her in the Georgia so I am going to bed tomorrow. I am going to try this.

Never tried it while running yet.

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2006 Jeep Commander
2013 Chrysler 200

1964 Valiant 4 Door
1965 Plymouth Barracuda
1967 Chevy Camaro

So I just finished setting the valve lash GAHH what a pain. Also found that my oil rail bolts had come loose enough to release the lifter rods off the number 1 cylinder. Thankfully only one of the lifters fell out. I used my lifter rods to "chopstick" it back in place and tightened everything down. What is the torque on the oil rail? After that I set the lash and vacuum settled in at about 17 or 18 inches and the idle is awesome. I am going to need to bring it up a little but it is idling while in drive at 500rpm with almost no issue.

Thank you everyone this has be a wholehearted success. I could definitely not have done it with out everyone's help. Especially Duster Idiot and Reed.

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2006 Jeep Commander
2013 Chrysler 200

1964 Valiant 4 Door
1965 Plymouth Barracuda
1967 Chevy Camaro