This might be a stupid question, but I still learning so I guess I could ask it. I recently messed with my timing belt. I bought the car used and according to my Helm's Manual, the timing belt was a notch or two off. TDC on the cams did not match the white mark on the crank...crank was not set at TDO. Anyway, I fixed that problem. But now I feel the car is lagging and it doesn't feel as strong as before I messed with the belt. My question is, do I need to adjust the timing now on the distributor...shoot it with a timing gun? Thanks

 

take the belt off and do it again its the only way

 

Take it off? I've checked and rechecked, Cams and Crank TDC is on point. Why should I need to take it off again? Can you please elaborate? Thanks

 

yeah go ahead and check the timing. should be about 16 degrees +/- 2 degrees. maybe the person before you did a valve adjustment with the skipped tooth? might wanna check the clearances.

 

Skipped Tooth?? Sorry, I'm new to mechanic stuff. Let me provide more info. Prior to taking things apart, when both of the cams are at TDC, the RED MARK on the crank was at TDC (not the white mark). Is this significant?

 

Yes, the red mark would be off quite a bit. If you have the white mark on the lower cover pointer and the cams are at the up marks, then you have perfect cam timing. Now you have to adjust your ignition timing, I would advise around 17* before TDC. This is within specs and advanced just a tad for better performance.

Also, pull the valve cover and check the valve clearances in case they were adjusted while the cams were out of phase, doubt it, but could of been. Sounds good anyway.

Make sure your plugs are in the right order also. Remember, arbitrarily playing with the cams and crank positions isn't a smart thing to do. When it was off, you might of felt a bit more power down low, or more up high, but the best position is where the engineers designed them to be. When you upgrade to some aggressive cams, then you can dial in the cams on the dyno. And even then, some people find the best 'all around' power at (0,0). Good luck.

 

Thanks guys. I did readjust the valve clearance after I messed with the belt. I guess what I have to do now is adjust the ignition timing. Thanks again.