i think im going to go with method #3. No i did not bring #1 to tdc when i began

As far as cleaning is concerned. I took a razor blade to the head and block, then wiped it down good with some brake cleaner. I should be good to gbo right? I might just clean the cylinder and heads with some compressed air to make sure there is no crap there.

 

Compressed air, shop vac, whatever gets rid of the crud. Surfaces should be clean of any gasket material, smooth and oil/grease free.

 

well it would have made your life a little easier. you could have really got that piston exactly at TDC with the head off and get almost dead on with the rocker adjustments. now your probably going to have to turn the motor 1 to 2 times to figure out if your at #1 or #6 on the compression stroke.

 

the head is still off, so i still can. I still have to go look for the arrow that supposidly is on the balancer that will tell me when #1 or #6 is at tdc.