sablesurfer,

Good questions. The crank pulley rotates clockwise as viewed from the front. As the mark on the pulley approaches the first in the series of lines on the tab...this is the MOST advanced. Usually the LAST line on the tab equals 0&deg BTDC. 0&deg before top dead center is TDC!

To speculate, the last line in the direction of rotation is TDC and each line before that usually represents 5&deg...I think.

Does this make sense!

Stuart