Ok so I searched and cant find anything close to what I am wondering. I removed my head from my dohc zc but when i did the cam pulleys moved from tdc, because the timing belt wasnt all of the way off. I removed the cam shafts and pulled them from the head. When I put them back on can I align them while the head is off of the block, and then realign the block? For the block tdc is the two inner pistons all the way up to the top of the block, right???? Thanks.


Modified by ghost_ryder35 at 12:11 PM 1/7/2006

 

no, the two outside pistons have to be all the way up. You can align the cams while the head is off the block but you have to keep them in place with a cam locking tool i believe.

 

bump... is it the two outside pistons? and is everything else i mentioned right? thanks again

 

Yes,definantly the outside two..

What is confusing about this:
For every complete revolution of the camshaft,
the crankshaft rotates twice..

That said,most likely you set it on TDC but for the wrong cylinder...
Especially if the two center pistons are up.

Look here for lots of ZC info:
http://thezcr.com/html/zcbook.html
and here:
http://thenew.gamesbbs.com/~dmoore/zc.htm

 

alright definetly the outside too. got it. thanks. i'll post my success(hopefully) later!

 

ok so this is the new question ----- i got my block to tdc (the two outer pistons all of the way up) now I am trying to get my head at tdc but I cant seem to. How do you set the head at tdc? do you just turn the cams until the tdc arrow is pointing up? I cant get the cams to move, they are really tight and I want to check to see how to line it up before I brake something. Thanks

 

You can either turn them by hand [yes, it's a bitch]
with a wrench or unbolt them and reposition them that way..

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 88DXCRX &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">You can either turn them by hand [yes, it's a bitch]
with a wrench or unbolt them and reposition them that way..</TD></TR></TABLE>

reposition them that way? is this possible. so as long as I take the cam out and then put it in so the cam gear says tdc there will be no problem? theres nothing internally in the head i have to rotate? thanks

 

Exactly..back off all the adjusters and remove the cam caps/cams.
Rotate and re-install..

I would try to manually rotate the cams in the head before
I went through all that that though..

 

thanks I already removed the cams and cam gears from the head when i removed the head. so when i reinstall them all I have to do is reinstall so the cam gears point up to tdc
thanks!

 

So you know,
This is what you could have done:
This is a sohc but it serve the purpose
With a big 1/2" ratchet with a 12mm socket and a tapered pry-bar:

I put the tapered prybar into one of the holes for the headbolts
and rotated clockwise until the gear was correctly positioned....

 

ugh why did you tell him to pull the cams. why dissasemble anything when you can just spin stuff. The tappets have to be bolted down VERY evenly or youre going to have a mess. make sure you carefully follow torque specs and do it in steps when you reassemble. (just like the head bolts)

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by fujiwara takumi &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">ugh why did you tell him to pull the cams.why</TD></TR></TABLE>

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 88DXCRX &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I would try to manually rotate the cams in the head before
I went through all that that though..</TD></TR></TABLE>
I did not tell him to,I only stated that was one way to accomplish the task,
Which it is...

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ghost_ryder35 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I already removed the cams and cam gears from the head when i removed the head.</TD></TR></TABLE>

 

well then i will re-stress to follow the torque specs. i havent played with honda heads but miatas are all aluminum and easy to strip if you get rambunctious. the only reason i pulled mine was for cleaning bearing #$%* out.

 

with pistons staying at TDC, <U>do not</U> try to rotate camshafts - the valves will hit the pistons - he is doing it the correct way - set #1 to TDC, install the cams with the arrows up

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by jlicrx &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">with pistons staying at TDC, <U>do not</U> try to rotate camshafts - the valves will hit the pistons - he is doing it the correct way - set #1 to TDC, install the cams with the arrows up</TD></TR></TABLE>

Agreed.
The discussion above involved rotating the cam
<u>only while the head was removed from the block..</u>

You could rotate the cams if you had all four pistons at the same level
mid-stroke [off of TDC..]
Be careful..If you are not sure,don't try it...Good Luck ..

 

i guess i misunderstood that he was trying to get the cams up with head off - they won't stay there unless he backs off the adjusters or puts pins down thru the holes in the cam bearing caps into the holes in the cams, due to valve springs trying to rotate the cams

 

yea I know what your saying they like to be little biotches just like they are right now. for some reason i cant get both to tdc. one is like a tooth off and the other (the intake cam) is like 2 0r three teeth off. no good. Is this something I can solve once I start getting the timing belt on?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ghost_ryder35 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">yea I know what your saying they like to be little biotches just like they are right now. for some reason i cant get both to tdc. one is like a tooth off and the other (the intake cam) is like 2 0r three teeth off. no good. Is this something I can solve once I start getting the timing belt on?</TD></TR></TABLE>
yes, after you get the head on, you can just take a 12mm wrench on the cam gear bolts and turn the cams a little to line them up

 

i just got everything put together and now it wont turn on. sounds like the wires are connected to the wrong spark plugs but there not i checked over and over again. this is a timing issue isnt it? how would I go about fixing the timing without removing the head again? the cams are aligned at tdc on top and everything seems fine in the block... help... want to hear this thing come to life

 

you sure plug wires in distributor are correct? on the DOHC ZC, #1 is at top and then going clockwise, #3 at front of car, #4 at bottom, #2 toward firewall

 

same as a si motor right? damn thing feels like the motor is going to jump out of the engine bay when i hold the gas down to keep it running. oh forgot to mention the check engine light came on but i havent had time to see what code its throwing yet.

 

no, not same as Si - Si has #1 at bottom, #3 toward firewall, #4 at top and #2 closest to front of car - reset ECU

 

hmmm... would this cause my check light to come on? i will go take a look. i was using the chilton to hoook the plugs up