I just finished pulling my crankshaft hub off the end of the crank, and as soon as I did, I realized I didn't pay enough attention to how it was positioned. Is it imperative to put it back on in the exact rotational position that I took it off? There is a cast mark on on the hub. There is also an engraved "C" on the end of the crank snout and some grooves in the snout. The inside of the hub has no indication of having to be lined up with anything. Please advise.

 

YES!!! The front of the motor is balanced by the hub. Put the #1 piston at TDC, then install the crank hub with the arrow on the balancer at 12:00. It's that simple.

 

I'm pretty ignorant about this, how do I get the #1 piston top dead center?

 

Last time I checked the dampener is balanced separatly from the crank. This means you can put it on in any position you want.

 

Great, conflicting responses .

The Chiltons manual also says to do the #1 TDC and put the mark at 12:00. So how do I know when the #1 it TDC? If it's easy I might as well go this route just to be safe.

 

Inspect the balancer for machining and/or weighs added to show that it was used to balance the rotating assembly. This was an optional fine tune balancing used by GM. If it's not modified, then you can put the hub/balancer in any position. Just remember that you won't be able to use the arrow on the balancer as a reference of crank position in the future.

 

Well, there are three holes, all next to each other, drilled in the shank of the hub, but the balancer itself (pulley) seems to be symmetrical.