the "best" way to locate TDC is with a piston stop tool and degree wheel. You can buy piston stops or make one out of an old spark plug.
The idea is to screw the tool into a plug hole and determine that the valves are closed and then slowly rotate the crank so that the piston rises until it contacts the stop. At that point, you adjust the pointer and degree wheel to read say 30 degrees. Then you wind the motor backwards until the piston again contacts the stop and read the degree wheel. Split the difference between the two readings. Repeat until you get the same degree wheel reading both ways.
Don't just crank the motor over forgetting that valves will probably contact your stop and bend.
The alternative is to turn the motor until the T mark lines up with the pointer and peer into the plug hole to check that it really is at TDC on that cylinder.
I think it's timed to fire at the F mark, not T, but check that in the manual or ask Tripler who knows a lot more about those engines than I .
The idea is to screw the tool into a plug hole and determine that the valves are closed and then slowly rotate the crank so that the piston rises until it contacts the stop. At that point, you adjust the pointer and degree wheel to read say 30 degrees. Then you wind the motor backwards until the piston again contacts the stop and read the degree wheel. Split the difference between the two readings. Repeat until you get the same degree wheel reading both ways.
Don't just crank the motor over forgetting that valves will probably contact your stop and bend.
The alternative is to turn the motor until the T mark lines up with the pointer and peer into the plug hole to check that it really is at TDC on that cylinder.
I think it's timed to fire at the F mark, not T, but check that in the manual or ask Tripler who knows a lot more about those engines than I .
