Just installed my timing chain assy. on my 350 rebuild, installed it with the O's lined up and the number 1 piston at the top of the bore, after installing the balancer I noticed the timing line on the balancer was about 2 1/2" inches away from TDC on the timing tag. With the timeing mark on the balancer and timing tag mark at 0 the piston was about 3/8" of an inch down in the bore, is this correct or did I mess up on the line up, thanks.

 

Reverify that your dots are lined up. If they are, it would indicate a disagreement between the timing tab and the mark on the balancer - either they are mismatched, or the outside of the balancer has rotated in relation to the inside.

 

Sounds like you have a a mix of 12 o'clock and 2 o'clock damper and timing tab.

 

It's common to get a balancer that's designed to have the timing mark at 12 o'clock. Normally a balancer will have the timing mark directly in line with the keyway. When #1 piston is at the top of the cylinder, the keyway will be roughly at the 2 o'clock position where most timing pointers will be.

As for the timing marks on the gears. If the crank mark was at the top and the camshaft mark was at the bottom, this is the easiest way to line them up however this puts the #6 cylinder at TDC compression stroke. Either rotate the crank a full turn or drop the distributor in pointing to #6.