Forgive me but still a rook when it comes to this. Engine is still installed in the car but heads have been removed and it is just the cylinder block. Balancer, pulleys and 1 belt are still attached as well. In order to manually crank the engine to find TDC with a heads-off piston stop, do I need to remove the crank pulley to get to the balancer or is there a way I can crank it with the pulleys still attached? Crank pulley has 9/16 bolts, I don't want to put any strain on that as that's not very large.

Can I use a remote starter to bump it to test or does that risk smacking the piston into the stop with that method?

How's this....can someone breakdown the 'TDC for dummies' method for me in steps for my scenario with the heads off, engine installed, pulleys installed, etc?

 

Should be a big hole in the crank pulley so you can get on the crank nut and turn.

 

Yes, you can destroy a piston this way.

 

My mistake with my first post, I was incorrect about the bolts in the crank pulley. The center one is the large one, so much so that I don't have a socket to match so that'll be my next trip to the store. I guess my main concern is that I can use that center bolt on the crank pulley which is in front of the balancer, to crank the engine and I won't cause damage to the bolt or pulley?

With the piston stop (heads off style), I'm going to crank CW until it reaches the stop, mark the balancer then turn CCW till it reaches again and mark once more. The difference will be my true TDC which may or may not be the factory hash mark on my balancer.

Sound accurate so far or am I missing something?

 

Your plan is sound. The balancer bolt is torqued to 160 ft-lbs. You aren't going to hurt it, especially if the heads are off and there's no compression. Alternately, if you DO break that bolt, you have a MUCH bigger internal engine problem (and apparently massive biceps).

 

Hilarious Joe...thanks for the confirmation and the laugh. Merry Xmas bro.

 

Good one, Joe!