Quote Originally Posted by camaro8484 View Post
was by myself but what i did was put a piece of paper towel in the hole, bumped it over when it blew the paper towel out of the hole assumed that was compression stroke?
I can see myself doing that, and in theory it should be OK but the problem is if you're using the key to bump it's hard to know for sure working alone, watching for the flying plug of paper. You really need to pull all of the plugs and put a breaker bar & socket on the dampner bolt so you can slowly bring the engine around to align the marks at TDC compression for #1. If you're in a hurry get a remote starter swicth and bump the engine until you get #1 compression on a thumb or finger, and then use the bar to align the marks exactly.

Another possibility is that your harmonic dampner may have de-laminated, allowing the outer ring to shift relative to the keyed center ring that's tied to the crank. If it's still backfiring after you ensure the distributor is stabbed right you might want to verify your timing mark alignment. One way to do that is in this thread - Finding TDC Read the lead method, and then also read the one that Tech linked from the Crankshaft Coalition.

Let is know what you find.