[blykins]

I think you should take the time and do it as you say. It shouldn't take that long at all....30 minutes tops. Then you'll have peace of mind.

When you find true TDC with the degree wheel, then you know you can put the timing pointer anywhere as long as it's pointing at a 0 somewhere. I had an adjustable pointer, and at TDC, it was covering the 10:00 scale, but worked perfect with the 11:00 scale.

As for the lash, with any aftermarket cam with late valve timing and lots of overlap, you'll probably need to run the valves again. There's nothing wrong with doing it that way(with a stock cam and a damper with 90 degree marks on it), but you'll more a 1000x more accurate with the EVO IVC method. Once you get it down pat, you can run the valves on one side in just a minute or two. You don't even have to pay attention to the balancer, you just bump the engine over by hand or with a starter until one valve is doing what you want.

BTW, you don't have to take the damper off, just pull the balancer bolt out, mount your degree wheel, and run the balancer bolt in. Don't get it too tight, just barely tight. Then you'll have to turn the engine over with the flywheel, or with a couple of flywheel bolts in the end of the crankshaft.