Today I put a new water pump on my used engine that is hanging from an enging hoist. This engine doesn't have a distributor yet to help with finding TDC on #1. I lined up the camshaft marks and have the "up" up. Also lined up is the mark on the gear behind the crank pulley with the mark on the oil pump before I pulled the belt and pump. Do I have TDC on #1 at this point? When the new belt comes in later today and I put it on, am I good to go If I have these lined up as I described?

 

Stick a hose or something in the cylinder and "feel" if the cylinder is up. Or just take off the distributor from another car and temp install it.

 

pull spark plug #1

put dip stick down in hole to view height of the piston.. u can rotate the crank with a 19mm to view the position of the piston!

 

When I wrote this thread, I already had done the work and I didn't look in the spark plug hole. But I did have everything lined up as described. If the marks on the crank gear and the oil pump are lined up I must be at TDC #1, right?