[2003SV]

I have a true TDC positive stop tool on order from Amazon (it's a Comp Cams tool). Hopefully I can work on the car possibly Saturday or preferably on Sunday when it cools down a bit. It's been dreadful (but typical) heat and humidity here.

I've triple checked my wiring and there isn't a cross up... I have an MSD probillet distributor, wiring kit, and coil so it's all marked nicely. The positive stop TDC tool will establish where I'm at (or should be) with respect to my balancer. I would have expected my rotor to be slightly past (CCW) the #1 terminal at TDC. Assuming static initial timing is 14-16 degrees before TDC (and the terminal for #1) would have lined up, I'd expect at TDC for the distributor to have swung 7-8 degrees CCW toward #3, not the 35-40 distributor degrees. But as all have said, let's set a known baseline of TDC and that will be with a positive stop tool. Thanks much to all. I'll apologize again, in advance for any misrepresentations, errors, etc. I'm about as unconfident (and maybe INCOMPETENT) as never before. I haven't worked on a ton of motors but I've completely rebuilt several, including a pretty darn complicated inline 4 cylinder motor engine. I just haven't run across anything like this before...