For the purpose of installing a distributor, remove the coil wire, remove the number one spark plug (drivers side, first one up front), put your finger tightly into the number one spark plug hole, have some one jog the engine over with the key a little at a time until you feel compression coming from the number one spark plug hole, stop at that point and turn the engine by hand clockwise until the mark on the damper lines up with "0" on the timing scale. This will give you TDC for the number one cylinder on the power stroke. This is where you would drop the distributor in with the rotor lined up on the number one position on the distributor cap.
For cam timing,A degree wheel and either a piston tdc spark plug stop or piston stop with head off. remove spark plugs. With degree wheel mounted on the crank,manually turn the engine over until piston 1 is close to TDC, distributor cap/rotor will get u close. put the degree wheel/pointer to 0. Install stop Turn the motorover by hand until the piston touches the stop, mark the degrees. Crank the engine in the (opposite direction 1+ complete turns)until it touches the stop. Marker the degrees down, add the 2 number(degrees before 0 and after 0) divide by 2 and that is the degrees# before/after 0 the piston should touch the stop. An example: if the piston touched 24 degress before 0, and again 20 degrees after 0. You need to adjust the wheel so it 2 degrees, so that the stop touches at 22 degrees before/after 0.
Top Dead Center
0 degress top dead center
8 degrees before top dead center.
That would be the biggest and widest mark. Are the first mark on it when turning it clockwise to the pointer.
Top dead center (TDC) is when the number 1 piston is at the very top of it's stroke on it's power (firing) stroke. This holds true for ALL internal combustion piston engines. If you remove the driver side valve cover, the second valve from the front is the intake valve on a small block Chevy, including the 305. Slowly rotate the engine by hand. When the intake valve closes, keep turning the engine until the timing mark lines up at zero. When it does, you are at top dead center.
take out the # 1 spark plug turn the motor to top dead center remove the dist. cap and where ever the rotor is pointing is # 1
0 TDC/ TOP DEAD CENTER
The schematic for an 83 Chevy 305 engine can be found in the service manual. It gives the location of each component and how everything is connected.
If the Buick 305 is really a Chevy 305, then the motor mounts will interchange with a Chevy 350.
Driver's side, front.
igot some 305 neads trying to find out if thay are big viles the numbers are 14014416
6 degrees BTDC. ( BEFORE TOP DEAD CENTER)