While I had it apart, I was checking to see why my marks on the crank pulley and the marks on the cam pulley seem to be a 1/2 a tooth off. So I pulled #1 plug and put a pencil in there and turned the crank ccw till it topped out and also looked at the position of the rotor pointing to #1. Long story short the mark on the crank pulley is about 3 degrees off from the timing pointer.

Now I know the plastic Tbelt cover can and has moved (Rubbing on the Alt belt)
But has anyone checked and verified their timing with the actual TDC. And should I time it to the corrected mark?

Thx for taking the time to read this I just wanted to explain it a little

 

I never line up the mark on the plastic cover, use the mark on the crank gear itself or use your pencil method.

 

I've verified that my ITR crank pulley and lower timing belt cover marks correspond to TDC. I used a degree wheel, pointer, and a piston stop.

You have to consider that the dwell can span several degrees of crankshaft rotation. Just because the pencil has stopped moving and the piston is at TDC, doesn't necessarily mean that the crankshaft throw is straight up and down and parallel to the cylinder bore.