Ok
So I'm pretty clear on what I have to do for my valve adjustment. What I wanted to know is where the rest of the points sit on the crank. I can find the TDC point. How do I know for sure where 180 degrees is? do I just draw a straight line and say it sits there? the measurements for error are 15mm-18mm and 17mm-20mm Thats not a big gap for error, so I have to get it right.

Ok I can find the White dash on the pulley to match the TDC point for cylinder 1 and 4. What I want to know is where I line up the dashes on the cam for cylinder 3 and 2. I can see the dashes pointing straight up, but I'm not sure where to stop them at. if I look at the cam I see the 4 arms on it: the one with the arror for cyliner 1 and the opposite for cylinder 4. Those are easy to find the exact TDC point. if I draw a line in the middle of the arrow can I follow that guide to line up the rest of the arms?

Some helpful tips would be appreciated.

Ok I have a question. When someone advances the timing how would they know where the TDC is set? I have heard of people advancing the intake cam for their IHE.

Advancing timing to like 18 deg. BTDC refers to ignition timing (move the distributor), not cam timing.

As far as valve adjustment, it's not actually necessary to have each cylinder exactly at TDC. What you're wanting is to have all 4 valves closed and the cam lobes away from the rocker arms. Setting #1 to TDC is easy, but then when you go to 3, just turn the crank until the gears move approx. 90 degrees, and check the cam lobes over the #3 cylinder valves to make sure all 4 lobes are pointing up and away from the rocker arms (the lobes should point towards the outside of engine, away from each other, if that makes any sense).

Ok I understand you. I was just thinking there was some alignment markers I could follow to be exact like on #1. Cause I tried to align it by just guessing what 90 degrees was and it was off a little causing a tapping noise. I did it again and it was better but I still hear a small amount of tapping. I think today I'm going to give it a go one more time and I think it should be fine this time if I take my time on it. What I didnt know is the markers on the cam. There are dashes that I can line up for #1 TDC. What I plan on trying today is following the cam teeth to match the TDC points exactly at 90 degrees. Since TDC #1 shows the marks exactly pointing into eachother I can follow that and exhaust cam will be pointing up and the intake will be pointing down accoring to the " | " marks. counting the teeth might help as well to be exact when I match #3 TDC.


[Modified by Fooser, 9:34 PM 2/19/2002]

Tapping will not be caused by not getting the cylinders at TDC unless you're completely way off and all the valves aren't closed (but then you shouldn't be able to get the feeler guage in there at all). Tapping is caused by simply having too much clearance between the cam lobe and rocker arm.

If you really want to go by the marks on the gears, both gears have a mark 180 degrees opposite each other (4 marks total). When #1 is at TDC 2 marks will be right next to each other. When the cam gears turn 90 degrees, 2 marks will point straight up (right about where the timing belt just touches each cam gear), and 2 of the arms (on stock gears) will almost point to each other. The arms will be off slightly, but just make sure the 2 marks point up. Oh yeah, there is also an "UP" arrow on one arm of each gear. These point up when #1 is at TDC, they point forward when #3 is at TDC, down for #4, and backwards for #2. Hope this helps. Just check to make sure the lobes for each cylinder you're working on are pointing up and away from the rocker arms and you'll be set.

Ok I got ya. It all makes sense now. This is soo much easier then I thought.