It was rather difficult finding the compression stroke for the number one cylinder on my old Cub. What I did was remove the #1 spark plug and put a cork in it. When hand turning, as it gets to the compression stroke, the cork popped right out (even made that funny *pop* sound). I then lined the mark to the pointer and was ready to do the timing.
Don't use too small of a cork or you'll be fishin'.
Don't use too small of a cork or you'll be fishin'.