I completely rebuilt the engine.
So the #1 was at TDC. I lined the cam gear up with that. Mark at 12 oclock. I installed the dist with the rotor facing the #1 point in the cap......

The harmonic balancer wouldn't be that far off. It would came apart first.
It's running like crap, knocking under load, and running a little bit hot. All signs of advanced timing.
I've had the cam cover off 3 times. The cam gear is still lined up. I am going to recheck the dist tho. Make sure it's still on. That's the one thing I didn't think of.

Thanks for the suggestions.

Jeremy
90/91 Celica GTS
91/92/93 Celica Alltrac
85 Toyota pu