Suburban 99' timing

[ariamodeleon]

Hello to all of you!
I just finished changing the transmission in my suburban 99, 4WD, 5.7 vortex. While doing the job I opted to dittached the distributor since it was on the way of the hoist chain that was holding the motor. I marked the position of the distributor and rotor (I did this previously when changing head gaskets).

The problem is, I rotated the motor to dettached/attached the torch converter therefore I lost the orientation of the rotor and now the car do not start. I am assuming that the mark position of the distributer is still correct!
Question: How I set the correct timing? I am assuming that my problem is the rotor orientation, am I correct? In my old cars I could check the 1st cilynder in its highest position, then I knew that the rotor will point number one. There is not space that allows me to do that here! Help please.

Thanks
Ariam

[unplugged]

The old way still works, but you have to remember that the piston is at the top twice. Once for compression just before ignition and again on the exhaust stroke just before the intake stroke starts.

You need to have piston #1 at the highest (TDC) and the timing mark on the crankshaft balancer should be at or near TDC. Then install the distributor. The rotor will be pointing to #1 on the distributor and follow the firing order (1-8-4-3-6-5-7-2) clockwise from there.

The timing is controlled by the ECM and is non-adjustable.

To identify which cylinder is #1 on a V6/V8 engine, look for the cylinder bank that is farthest forward.
http://www.offroaders.com/tech/images/Chevrolet-V8_Firing-Order.jpg