Timing light reading, no timing marks

I am about to start tuning and as part of Step 4 I need to set up timing using a timing light. That in itself isn't a particularly difficult task. However, the plastic covers that have the timing marks on my 1JZ-GTE VVTi are gone.

In the Ecumaster firmware I can lock timing at 0° while the engine is at true TDC (screwdriver method and CAM timing marks). I need a little help from here forward though. How does the timing light play into it in this situation? What is the procedure?

A timing light needs some kind of marks to be useful. On engines without timing marks, I usually make one by dead-stopping the engine, and making marks on the crankshaft pulley or flywheel. Here is a webinar on how to find the top-dead-center of cyl #1:

https://www.hpacademy.com/previous-webinars/175-how-to-find-true-tdc-top-dead-center/

As David said, you need to make your own. A pointer, if required, can be fashioned with some wire welded to a washer that is slipped under a handy nut or bolt to hold it in place or, if a more subratnatial one is required, bormed from some bent flat plate.

I will make 0 degree mark of my own with wire while the engine is at ttdc. That shouldn't be a problem.

What is the procedure from there? Open the firmware and lock timing at 0 degrees? Then crank while using the light to check it is firing at 0?

The Duratec engines I work with don't have any timing marks in the first place.

But the crank trigger gear is 36-1 tooth, so every tooth is very conveniently exactly 10 degrees center to center.

So I'll lock the engine at TDC, and mark any tooth on the timing gear, and then mark the timing cover exact at the center of that tooth, and I'll also mark one or two teeth on either side.

Then I lock the ecu at either 0 or 10 degrees, and then line up the timing so that it matches the correct mark I made on the cover.