help me.. im desperate, thank you

I just did an intake manifold gasket and lifter job,
I took extra caution to do this, did everything really slowly and carefully
and I know I did everything right..

the only thing is, after reassembly Im having a misfire or a knocking kind of sound.

I can think of 2 possibilities:

1. When I took the distributor off, I couldn't find the hold down clamp for it(so bought a new one),
but I am positive the distributor could not be moved without the bolt off during disassembly.
Soooo.. although I didn't see it and hear it, it might have slid or dropped into the distrbutor hole or the intake manifold hole?

any1 know if the clamp is small enough to enter manifold hole or the distributor housing hole???

2. I see 3 notches in my crankshaft damper. I did a timing adjusment relying on the biggest, newest cleanest looking notch.
But my car still misfires(sounds almost like a knock?)..
I tried all 3notches and still the same.

anyways, do u all think that its possible some1 put the notch for a mark referring to TDC of cylinder thats not #1???
I mean, in my v6 model there's so many brackets around #1 cylinder that its impossible to put finger over and feel the TDC, so is it possible
some1 put a notch for a TDC of cylinder 2 or 3 or something?(then that would explain my timing off)

this was my daily driver and ive worked on it trying to find out the problem for 2whole days.. I skipped school and I have no other car nor friends who would drive me 40min to my school.. my parents are getting mad for me using their car to work..

does misfire or backfire sounds really loud?
Im really scared weather I knocked my engine or its just a misfire..

any opinion or advice is greatly appreciated guys

 

if its backfireing and running rough i would check your valve lash. if its a hydrolic then its easy just pull the valve covers 1 at a time and put a towl over your exhaust. start it up then slowley back out each one of your rocker nuts till it starts ticking and tighten it back up slowley just till it stops. i had this happen to me when i replaced my heads. i set valve lash exactly like it should have been but if you even tighten it 1/4 of a turn more then needed the valves hang open wich means pressure goes back through your intake and you never have good cylendar compression....good luck let us know how it goes

 

What he said is a good idea, I looked all over every other option as to why my care was misfiring, but once I took off the valve covers I could see the very obvious valve not opening, which open the dark truth and nasty job that lay ahead of me. So just do that, and if all your valves move the same amount, roughly an inch or more than you can rest assured its not a valve problem and probably a spark problem. I never use timing marks, I just turn the distributor until the engine sounds like I know it should, so try that
Check each plug wire individually to make sure they're in the right spots and check every plug for spark, a trick I use is take each plug out one at a time, plug it's wire into it like normal, then get a little mini-jumper cable with an alligator clip on each side, the kind you find in electronics class or little hobby kits, and clip one side to a strut mount bolt and the other to the little tab on the other end of the spark plug near the electrode, and set the plug on the brake fluid reservoir, and turn the engine over a few times. Make sure the fuel injectors or ignition coil or something of the sort is unplugged so the engine doesn't start. This works better in the dark so you can see the spark better. This is just an easy trick so you don't need someone to help you, and noone gets shocked
A misfire doesn't make a specific "loud" noise, it's just a miss in the engine's melody, it sounds like a beat is missing if the engine running played a song. A knock is an obvious loud noise, and a backfire can range from tiny little putt putt sounds to a firecracker or a small gun, or a large slab of wood being snapped. maybe you should record it and upload it here!
Good luck, I'm still working a little each day on this stupid camshaft replacement

 

I just noticed your other thread says you took it to a shop, but if they cant fix it, try that stuff! lol