You can stick a long screw driver in and adjust the oil pump screw whatever direction it needs to be to set the distributor in.
For setting TDC if you have a compression tester, screw that on the first cyl. or have somebody hold their thumb over the spark plug hole if you have somebody to help you and crank the engine over until it starts to build compression. You can also crank it over by hand with a 1/2" rachet, this is a lil easier with the spark plugs out. Once it starts building, thats your compression stroke, take the tester off and stick a pencil or something in there and slowly keep turning it by hand with a rachet until the pencil reaches the highest point and starts to go back down. Once you get that, you have your tdc set. And then on the distributor itself you want the rotor pointing to the number 1 cylinder if i remember right. and like Jeffy said if your one tooth off or something the computer will adjust for that. Somebody else might want to verify me on setting the rotor though.
Sounds like we're all pretty much on the same level. I'm completely comfortable with arriving at #1 top-dead, compression once I reassemble the head to the block.
And...I do differential compression checks so that's pretty much a no-brainer.
8D17 in the '00 FSM gives you the process for both the oil pump and distributor but...their illustration shows an earlier distributor than mine. There's where I was hoping to get some ideas.
I
think that inserting the dist drive with the rotor installed should point the way and then, as a couple of you have mentioned, the computer should take it from there.
I'm still just kicking myself because I'm going with 62mm tb, spacer, header, intake, and cat-back so a SMART MAN would have done himself a favor and set everything up correctly BEFORE disassembly. Aye-yi, yi.
Thanks guys.
