I have my smallblock heads off and some dirt pieces fell onto the piston tops and in the crack around them and the cylinder wall. The manual says don't turn the engine so its in the right spot when I put the distributor back on. What should I do? Can the "top dead center"rule be trusted? Do people always have the timing light checked after this anyway? Please help.
Get a shop vac and try to suck all those pieces up. To get perfect top-dead-center run a straight-edge over the cylinder and turn the crank until the piston is flush against. Without having the #1 cylinder TDC it'll be a pain to get the timing correct.
Straight edge will work for TDC, like Rob stated. Or, use a dial indicator to acheive it. I have used a shop vac too.
