Ok this is my situation,,

I was going to take the head off for a valve job and replace allt he gaskets,,, while removing the head i skipped the step of taking out the pin from the guide rail,, so i snapped the guide rail,,, im now awaiting shipment of the guide rail..

I have replaced the head and only tighten the head bolts hand tight to stop any debris from getting in the freshly cleaned holes,, also i have replaced the intake manifold onto the head

So i still have the front of the engine off to do the guide rail when it comes in,,, I want to make sure the Head and the engine is TDC before i torque the head down.. However i was told that even with the head tightened on i can still effectively time the engine.

What are your thoughts,, i would rather not take the cam shaft out of the head because it was just redone and lubricated and refurbished to factory spec.. any information helps me at this point