K long story short, I am prepping my engine (D15B VTEC) for my swap... I broke a bolt installing my water pump, so I coulnt install my timing belt until I get that bolt out... So my car has no timing belt installed...

So, I figured I would work on other things that needed to be worked on, so I went to install a new cap and rotor, but the screw on the rotor was on the other side of where I needed it (since the cam was at TDC)... So I tried to spin the cam gear by hand to spin the rotor around... But it wouldnt budge... So I took a socket and ratchet and use it on the cam gear bolt to spin it, I didnt use alot of force, but when it spun it didnt actually turn like I would think it should, it just kinda 'popped' (didnt make a noise) into place a few degrees clockwise when I turned it... I tried to make sure the pistons where recessed by spinning the crank a bit first... So I turned it back and it did the same thing... Could this have done anything bad to the engine? I thought u were supposed to be able to turn the cam with the belt off to get it into TDC? Or did I just turn the cam the wrong way?

Thanks in advance...

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Exempt &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">... I tried to make sure the pistons where recessed by spinning the crank a bit first...</TD></TR></TABLE>It's absolutely important that you did this first, so NONE of the pistons were at TDC when you spin the cam. Then it should be OK.

The valve springs normally make the camshaft kinda snap into certain positions. But using a socket/ratchet, you might have enough leverage to bend a valve. Hope you had the pistons out of the way first.

 

K, thanks for the reply man! I took off the valve cover, and tried to turn it again, just to see, it looks like its just the springs that did it...