Thread: timing chain woes

i have just replaced my headgasket with a cometic and bought some golden eagle headstuds i have put it together and i forgot too mark the timing chain. So should i remove the motor and take off the front cover and do it too FSM specs or is their another way??????

lol no, put the motor at top dead center, put the exhaust cam in first with the pin 12 oclock position and put the chain on, it will be right on or be way off. You will be able to tell right away, Make sure you have all the slack out of the chain.

Then count over 20 pins from the dot and put the intake cam in, tighten the caps down, put the tensioner in, release the tensioner and turn the motor over by hand clockwise two revolutions.

The cams should realign at 10 and 12 oclock position and 20 pins between the dots. If its off you will definetly be able to tell.

oh and you should have it close enough if you are off it will be by one tooth on the gears, you dont have to worry about hitting valves when turning the motor over. If your way off maybe but turn the motor over slowly by hand two revolutions.

which way do i go for the intake cam clockwise or counterclockwise???

huh, the lobes point away from each other. 20 pins between dots on the gears. the guide pins for the gears on the cam at 10 oclock position on the intake, 12 oclock position on the exhaust. Again, get it together, put the tensioner in, release the tensioner, turn the motor over clockwise by hand at the crank two full turns until back to TDC. Then recheck that everything lines up. If it doesnt, then move the cams accordingly by removing the tensioner and undoing the cam gears from the cams.

Do it until your 100% correct its right. Its not hard to do. Just takes some eyeballing.

ok thanks

Here's a handy illustration courtesy of Eric Waterman:

all back together and at TDC first cylinder and my cams dowels pins intake is at 2 o'clock and the exhaust is at 5 o'clock what should i do????

Are your cams pointed toward each other or away from each other on cylinder 1?

You may be at the top of the exhaust stroke instead of the compression stroke. The cams should point away from each other @ TDC.

i was always told that the dowel pin on teh exhaust cam should be pointing to 12 o clock while the dowel on the intake came points to 10 o clock all this while piston 1 is at TDC...also note t hat all the valves should be closed while this is occuring