Thread: Another stupid timing thread...

So a guy with an almost stock 200sx SE-R comes over last night so that I can help him diagnose his timing issues I discovered a week ago.

This is what's going on:

Dizzy is clocked almost to the radiator.

When in timing mode, the UR pulley lines up off the scale, and at 32 degrees of advance with the timing light, the tick mark is set at 0 degrees. If I set the dizzy dead center (15 degrees of timing), the car falls on it's face at 5K and struggles to make power beyond, if at all.

Obvious fix, or so I think.

Pulled the valvecover off last night to check mechanical timing, as I'm thinking the crank is off one tooth.

Set the motor to TDC using the pulley mark, and with a long rod down in cylinder #1. With motor at TDC, intake sits at 10 o'clock perfectly, and exhaust sits at 12 o'clock perfectly. Check by turning crank back and forth a few times to ensure there's no slack, and always lines up at 0 TDC, with cams at 10 and 12. 20 pins in between marks on cams.

Lining up the marks on the cams with the chain, they're always off 2 links on intake and exhaust. (I remember Dre telling me that for every 1 tooth on the crank, you are off 2 teeth on the cams). It's not every other rotation you see the marks, either. It's about every 4 to 6 rotations (didn't count, definitely wasn't 2 rotations, though)

With the above being said, and if I move the cams to line up with the links, the cams will no longer be at 10 and 12 o'clock positions, but more like 11 and 1 o'clock positions.

I'm thinking the chain was removed/reinstalled/fuxor'd somewhere in the motor's life, so I'm trying not to concern myself much with the colored links on the chain. Obviously the most important part is that the crank and cams line up correctly, and as good as my eyes can tell, everything is as it should be.

What are the possibilities of the distributor being worn, so that it's positioned the way it is? Or do you think this is still a mechanical timing issue?

Thanks in advance.

It's a long, long, long shot but the CAS disc may have been flipped. Not sure what happens when this is done though.

Not sure, either

I don't think anyone would go as far as to take the CAS out and flip it by accident, but I suppose it is possible. The whole thing that throws me off is that with the dizzy at 32 degrees with the timing light, the pulley marks are at 0 degrees, and each cam is off 2 teeth from the colored links, yet they're still at 10 and 12.

I've got another dizzy I can throw on to test, and then it's back to messing with mechanical timing again.

If it's any consolation, the chain physically cannot slip on the crank or on the intake cam, it can only slip on the exhaust cam. Or do I have that backward? Anyway, it can only slip on one of the cams. But if you checked it all and it's kosher then I wouldn't waste time looking at mechanical timing.