Just changed Water pump. how to set TDC
 

I just changed out my water pump on a 85 380sl... What a job.. I followed the direction posted on the forum. I did have to removed the distributor. Now I am worry if it is out of timing.. What is the procedure to line up the distributor (I know the rotor should be on cylinder one at TDC) how do I do this? thanks.. I did a search and couldn't the exact process.
Thanks..
BTW it was an easy 10 hours job... I don't know if I will do that again....

remove spark plugs so you can turn engine easily, find the number one cylinder, it's the one farthest forward, put your finger over the spark plug hole until you feel air/compression coming out, that is on the correct stroke and coming close to top dead center, line up the timing mark on the crankshaft to TDC, locate the number one spark plug wire that is number one on the distibutor and install the distributor with the rotor pointing to number one, replace plugs and start engine and use timing light to time engine correctly, that should do it.

I read somewhere .. if I line up the harmonic balance "marked 0" to the pointer on the water pump, then it will be TDC? is this true????
thanks

Only if you are on the compression stroke on the number 1 cylinder, if you go strictly by the mark you have a 50/50 chance of being correct as you might be 180 degrees off otherwise

Thank you , Jerry..
I think I should be ok.. since I didn't really rotal the cap that much. I can line up the balancer to 0 and then the rotor to cylinder 1..What is the worst can happen is the car wont start.. thanks again...

No coolant on the top radiator hose???
 

I guess after the w/p change and got lucky, the car started right up..checked the timing and everything is good so far... I filled the coolant from the top hose and got as much as I could in the radiator. put the hose back to the radiator and fill up the overflow tank half way. My question is when I squeeze the top radiator hose, there is no coolant there and I drove the car for about 1/2 hour and the temp gauge went between 85 to 95..I checked the top hose again.. no coolant.. so I be concern???? The overflow tank did drop a little and I topped it off

Leave the cap off the overflow bottle, fill it 3/4 full and let the car get to operating temperature and top off the overflow bottle, should be good to go

Just don't do what I did once and set the timing 180 degrees off. Big flame out of the intake.

Of course, this was on an old junker Chevy so it's not like anything important got hurt.

I finally figured it out about filling up the coolant. Reading the diagram from the maintenance CD. The top radiator hose carries hot coolant when the engine is full load so it was empty when the engine is cold. The bleeding hose is next to the top hose is the key (so it can't be full of coolant when the engine is cold) ..It really got me going...I drilled a couple of small holes in the thermostat (it took a little bit longer to get the car warm, but I don't see the needle goes way up, almost to the red zone before it drops)
Thanks Jerry for your help..
As for the distributor, next time I will remember to mark the rotor position first before I took it out...