Timing Marks on 1990 Jetta GL
 

Last year I swapped out my engine of 225K miles on my 1990 Jetta GL. I had a VW guru rebuild an engine for me. I drove all the way to Boston to get it. I put it in the car and got it started and then got dragged away from that project for more than a year. So here I am with a car that has been sitting for more than a year and I have to pick up where I left off.

I am not certain I am doing the timing correctly. I basically did this: Took out spark plug #1. With a long skinny screwdriver I was able to feel when piston one was at Top Dead Center. I looked at the hole in the tranny and saw two marks. One looked like a rectange and the other looked sort of like a V notch. The TDC was dead-on with the rectangle so I went with that as a reference. For the cam I used a little dot on the side of the cam pulley and lined that up flush with the top of the cylinder head. Oddly enough the pulley was an aftermarket pulley that can adjust and retard timing so I dont know if that mark is the same as the stock pulley.

My question is this? Did I use the right mark on the flywheel for timing?
Do I need a timing light with dial-back capabilities to do this job right? I have a striaght forward timing light with no dial.

The engine does idle but kinda rough. If I pull the engine temp sensor leads off the engine idles high (about 1100-1200 RPM) but OK. With the sensor connected the idle is about 900-950 but the idle seems rough and the engine hesitates when initailly giving throttle.
I intend on installing new OXS sensor and knock sensor as they are both very old and worn. Any other suggestions or tips would be highly appreciated.

Thanks
Dan