Timing question

I recently reinstalled my dist. I brought number one up on TDC, installed the dist with teh rotor pointing toward teh number one spark plug, fired teh engine up and timed at 10 BTDC. The van runs, starts accelerats fine but the engine rocks and shudders at stops after it gets warm. On a hunch, I kept advancing the dist and teh roughness went almost away. I looked ta teh timing and i was at 33 BTD. The van accelerated great and was fine on the highway. Why is this? The van supposedly only has 5500 miles on it (3300 i put on). Is it possible im doing something wrong?

verify 1st!!=you have the # 1 spark plug wire on timing light wire to verify?? is the timing light the type that has advance adjustable?/ re check - set to tdc or 0 if it is? Its very easily to make a mistake & hook the timing lite to another wire thinking u have selected # 1 . Other possibilitys are= Timing dampner has moved- bad dampaner / marks??

it is a load o matic. I have teh light hooked to the number one wire for sure. the light has teh option to set the number you want for tdc on it. So when i set the little dial to 10, when the light flashes, it lines up with 0.if you set the dial to 0, the light functions like a basic light and you just look at the notch on the dampner vs the cast in marks on teh block. i pulled teh dist and i felt teh piston come up on comp and physically felt teh piston at the top of the stroke with a screw driver.

sounds like ur doing it correctly -just make sure the timing lite is set on 0 to get the actual timing & recheck it.and again- no vac advance hooked up & @ idle also.

i just redid the whole process and pulled the dist and retimed completely. This only happened when i installed the pertronix unit. I am getting 2v right from the battery too. As soon as i get on the gas at a light and the revs increase and the until comes under load at regular acceleration, the van is just fine. At idle the gas pedal actuall moved and slaps back and forth as does the engine. Its an extremely rough idle

Check out the vacuum gauge post in the how it's done section. Excellent post BTW. Old balancer marks can't be trusted as they can twist, after 50 years. Tune your engine for what it wants, not what a chart tells you. Also, you will have different factors to deal with, like altitude and crappy gas. I haven't used a timing light in 35 years!

How do I find TDC if I can't find any marks on the pulley or mark on block...   I'm new at this    

1964 170ci

I am new as well.  As in, 2 weeks new.  ..but in theory, both rockers on cylinder #1 should be off their lobes and loose.  
From what I am seeing, you should be able to then reach down and feel the pulley (if you can't see with your eyes) for marks at the timing indicator on the cover.  If not, you can rotate the motor 180 degrees and look for the marks.  TDC should turn up eventually.  (Adjust  your valves while you're in there.. the '64 vans with the 170 are considered HD and have mechanical lifters.)

Just found this interesting link.  Maybe its in here somewhere.  

http://archive.org/stream/Fix-Your_Ford_/Fix-Your_Ford__djvu.txt

THANK YOU!

The easiest and surest way to find TDC on the compression stroke is to pull the #1 spark plug and put your finger in the hole while rotating the engine(in it's normal direction) until your finger pops out. This will not find absolute TDC but is accurate enough to drop the dist. in and get the motor started and adjust from there.

But if the engine is already timed and the dist is in but you simply need to remove it for some reason like installing the pertronix, all you need to do is simply mark the center of the rotor's position on the rim of the alternator with the cap off, no need to find TDC. Just reinstall it with those marks lined up and DON'T ROTATE THE MOTOR WHILE IT IS OUT