I'm no expert on timing, but from what I could tell it seemed to be lined up correctly. I had to replace the water pump right after I got it because it was leaking. Removed the timing belt to do so and while reassembling it I made sure to not move the crank or the cam. Before I removed it, I set it to TDC. Can't say for sure if the camshaft was lined up perfectly. The timing mark wasn't exactly easy to find. It was really just an educated guess with the help of a crappy Haynes manual.

And since I'm a little terrified of messing with timing, I'm saving the distributor and any timing adjustments for last. I'm worried I'll just mess things up even worse. One of those situations where I would feel more comfortable with an expert looking over my shoulder and teaching me ya know. I've watched dozens of videos and read countless articles on how to set timing.. but nothing was really clearly explained enough for me to grasp.

Weird thing is, when the mass air flow isn't plugged in, the computer goes into "limp" mode and mechanically it will run fine. No misfires, or bogging down at all. But doing so, it will get around 8mpg, and the exhaust manifold starts glowing red hot. After I realized that I parked it. So it's been hard to tell if it's something electronic somewhere (despite all the sensors I've swapped out) or if it's something mechanical related.