ok so I'm new to working on engines, and I just did an intake gasket installation on my 360. its in a 65 thunderbird (not sure on the year of the motor) anyways the old gasket was almost completely gone in the back of the block, and it was pissing oil everywhere. when i pulled the rocker arm assembly on both driver and passenger side, i forgot to set the motor to TDC, same with reinstallation. i was going through my shop manual just now, and realized i had skipped this step. i already have the rocker arms back in and torqued at 45 foot lbs. Am I going to blow this thing up if I start? is there a way to reverse what I've done? I need help on this from you guys that have done this type of thing before. Again, I'm a total newb, so please be gentle on my stupidity hahaha

 

If you didn't pull the timing chain, you didn't change the cam/crank relationship. Just pull the dizzy and number one spark plug. Bring the engine to tdc on #1 cylinder combustion stroke and put the dizzy back in referenced to #1 cylinder. Then set your timing. Will be easier to turn the engine over if you remove all the plugs but not necesary. Hope you torqued the rockers down one turn at a time front to rear or vice-versa so not to have put any of the push rods in a bind and that the oiling bolt is in the right spot.

 

Do yourself a favor and bump the starter till you are close to tdc , turning over by hand will get old real quick.

 

No issues with not having it at TDC - just set the distributor, and you're good to go.

If you're worried about anything with the valve train, turn it over by hand, preferably with the spark plugs out, and make sure nothing binds by feel.

 

Speak for yourself, bumping the starter and hoping to get it to stop on TDC on the compression stroke gets old even quicker.

 

Think the key word here was "close"

 

"close" is a relative thing. The balancer is only 6" in diameter, and 18" around, so just by popping the hood and looking at it, it's always "close" to TDC. Bumping the starter and hoping it'll land within an inch or two of TDC on the compression stroke is like hoping you'll win the lottery, you've got about the same chances of it happening. You'll spend far more time doing it this way than just grabbing the breaker bar and 15/16" socket and doing it by hand, which is something you're going to have to do after you spend 5-10 minutes bumping the starter, to get it on the correct timing mark. Been there-done that. Now I just use the breaker bar and socket and have it there in a minute.

 

FUNNY i have been doing this for years , screw driver across the solenoid .
i have even hit TDC

Guess i'll go buy a lotto ticket since i am so lucky

 

"Close" to me would be getting #1 on the compression stroke, thats not too hard to do with the starter.

 

I've done it that way too, and long ago I learned to just grab the breaker bar and socket and skip the useless starter bumping, you'll save far more time doing it this way. Doing it with the starter, you'll still need to use the breaker bar after you've spent several minutes playing the the starter. But if that's how you want to use your time, have at it.

 

Turning the brank with a socket and breaker bar, do you need to remove the belts? I have 3. Or remove the plugs?

 

I can get it within an inch or two every time. Why is that so hard?

 

No, just use the breaker bar.

 

Good idea to take the neg cable off the battery, if using a breaker bar, just in case.