Almost all of my expierence has been with 93-95 fbodies. Been working on a 97 lately and while trying to find TDC to adjust the valves I noticed there is no arrow on the balancer like there is on the earlier cars.

There is however a small notch marked in it. It does look rather new though, so I'm skeptical to go off of that. The inside spokes of the balancer form an arrow as well, I'm assuming that's it, the movement of the rockers seem to indicate so, but again, not sure. Anyone know for sure?

 

If the hub/balancer have been off before there is no guarantee any mark would be right. Because there isn't any keyways in the hub/crank. It can be put back on in any orientation...

 

Niether the hub or the balancer is keyed to the crank nor is there a timming tab. The only way to find #1 TDC is to pull the #1 spark plug. Good luck.

 

here is a pick of what the balancer looks like


http://www.lt1.org/cancooliemod.jpg

 

In that picture, the arrow that indicates TDC is pointing straight down. When it is at 12 o'clock, it is at 1 or 6 TDC.

 

See how the center triangle has one tip that is 'pointed', versus the other 'rounder' tips? That is your indicator. Also, like somone else pointed out, if it's been off before, it could be in any orientation.

BTW, nice blower cap (which I think has something to do with the pic name 'can coolie mod').