[PONTIAC DUDE]

FWIW:
First off................ I would use 6 on the cam & 12 on the crank to align. You can easily get one tooth off over that distance of observation. When the dots are lined up on the timing gears then you are on #6, not #1 for firing.

You need to bring it up on #1: Watch the intake valve open and close, as it is closing, then bump it till the balancer line and mark on the cover line up on zero.

If you are using the factory nuts that bottom out at 22 ft/lbs then..............after you are on #1
loosen the nuts on both intake and exhaust for that cylinder. Then tighten down the nut untill you feel no play in the pushrod to rocker. Now tighten the nut to 22 ft/lbs and watch the # of turns it take to achieve this. If it is over 1 1/2 turns then you might have issues with the valve wanting to stay open. I preferr no more then one turn. Most have a screw-in studs, but Some heads don't have the ability to replace the studs without pulling the press-in one out. You then can go to a lock nut on the stud to achieve this. Small block Chevy 3/8" style. Also check to see where the rocker tip is riding on the valve tip to make sure the pushrod isn't too long with this aftermarket cam/lifter install. This will affect the preload.

If you have the right pre-load then I would check as you possibly used the wrong marks on the bottom gear to time your cam.
......Have seen & answered this a million times......
There are Two Dots for alignment on the bottom gear. One for the crankshaft keyway and one on the tooth to align with the cam gear.

[David Jones]

Verify your timing chain installation. I recently dummied-up a timing chain install on my engine and it absolutely refused to fire. Finally posted a picture of the chain installed and a couple of the guys here spotted a problem with my installation. I was using a multiple keyway (Rollmaster) timing set and had infact aligned the dots correctly but had a major brainfart with all of those keyways and the cam/crank relationship. Its a lot of reading but here is a link to a thread I put up about my problem and how I got it resolved . The solution was in about 6 or 7 pages, but its interesting reading all of the way through.
Davids thread.
in my case

[wj3v]

Sounds like you have the same problem I had.
The crankshaft sprocket on mine had 3 keyway slots. 1 for advanced, 1 for 0 and 1 for retarded. I lined mine up on the advanced by mistake and had the same symptoms you describe. Check and make sure you line it up on the 0 timing mark!

[elohssa]

ok, I checked out a few things today and it does look like a valve iming issue. I put a dial indicator on the end of the #1 intake pushrod and rotated the engine over by hand, What I found is that the intake valve is open the whole way through the power stroke and doesnt close until about 45 degrees ATDC this would explain the 0compression but the question is how the hell did this happen? here is a picture I took before installing the timing cover you cannot see the marks very well but take a look at the cam and crank sprocket keyways, I compared the picture to a spare three keyway set I have on the bench and It looks o be correct for a 12 and 12 setup, I don't get it, There is nothing I hate more than doing a job twice grrrrrrr, Even if I had the crank sprocket off by one key way wouldn't that just advance or retard the cam? It certainly should still work. Thx for all the advice.

[Tom from NJ]

Lay a piece of cardboard on the bench and draw a straight line. Use this to position the chain around the gears with the marks in the proper location. You should be able to line up your line that you drew with the center holes in the gears and the marks. Then put a paint mark on each gear and the chain. When you install the timing set on the engine realign the paint mark on the lower gear and the top gear should have the paint mark in right spot. It is easier to do the alignment on the bench and the paint marks make for a good second check. If you are a tooth out it will be obvious.

I had to do this once on a car where the visibility was not good enough to be sure the marks were on.

Tom

[elohssa]

Thanks for all the replies/advice guy's I got it all back together yesterday and It's running fine The edelbrock timing set with the H's triangle and dots threw me off and I had the dots lined up but the crank in the wrong keyway major brain fade that day I guess.

[Tom from NJ]

The keyway on the crank will always be in line with the number one connecting rod center line when the engine is at TDC.

Tom S