Flathead Timing

My question is how do I time my flathead (8ba)?
I just got the body back on the frame and hooked up the wiring harness temporarily to see if it would fire before I put the radiator and fenders back on.I turned it over last night and it farted once or twice. I am not confident that it is in time and I am trying to avoid taking the head back off.
Good to finally be on the board. I am geting closer to my first trip around the old block. Any help would be great.

Thanks

 

No need to take the head off. You just time it like you time any other car, except maybe it's just a little simpler. There is a timing mark (bump) on the crankshaft and a pointer on the front cover. Line them up when looking at an angle that goes through the center of the crank shaft snout, which is about the only way you can see on a fendered car. The only tricky part is figuring out which cylinder is #1 and how to figure out the firing order. This is NOT a small block Chevy. #1 is the cylinder closest to the distributor or the one on the front of the right bank. It is not the cylinder farthest to the front - that one is #5 and it is on the other side of the engine. The cylinders are counted 1-4, front to back on the engine's right side (passenger side), and 5-8 front to back on the engine's left side (driver's side). The firing order is 1-5-4-8-6-3-7-2. If everything looks right, fire it up and fine tune it with a timing light. If this doesn't get you started, I can go into more detail.

 

If fire comes out of the carburaters you are 180 off. Readjust and try again, been there done that. Good luck....