Just picked my head up today, i had my head resurfaced, valve seals done, head pressure tested yada yada yada.... Anyways, now i'm reinstalling it, and i got my crank at TDC, but now im tryna get my cam at TDC and i'm wondering, is there some special way i have to do it..?? I tried to turn the gear by hand and it wasnt happenin.. I don't wanna force it if theres some routine that I forgot to pay attention to somewhere along the way, but ive searched and read and cant find ****...

 

what motor is it? put a wrench on the camgear bolt and turn and make sure the UP its poing stright up and there shoudl be a TDC mark on the cam gear that is even with the block

 

SR20s13 is right about the up marks. There should also be dashes on the cam gears that let you know they're aligned properly. When I put on a head, I turn the crank half a turn (or is it 1/4 turn?) from TDC to make sure all of the pistons are in the middle of the bore so you don't risk ******* up the valves by adjusting the cam timing. Once you turn a wrench on the cam gears to get them in approximately the right position, you can move the block back to TDC.

 

its a D16Z6, and the head is in my garage its not on the car as we speak.. I kno about the UP mark and dash marks, and I was gonna do the wrench thing, i just wanted to make sure hand turning it was fine... Also, when the cam gear is at TDC, should all the valves be closed..?? I have 2 intake valves that are open and its about 1/4" from being straight UP on the cam gear..

 

Hand turning it is fine. The work you had done on your head should not affect which valves are open at any point as long as you're using the same cam as before. I've never rotated a head off of a block, so I don't know if all of the valves should be closed at TDC, and I have absolutely zero experience with SOHC's. Sorry I couldn't be of more help.

 

TDC refers to cylinder 1 when setting the cam and crank mechanical timing. Therefore, at TDC1, the valves for cylinder 1 should be closed and the cylinder 1 piston should be at TDC.

 

so what does that mean for the other valves?

 

Not sure. I'd have to think about it. What I can say is that, at TDC1, stepwise rotation of the cam 90-degrees would then close all valves for cylinder 3 (TDC3), cylinder 4 (TDC4), and cylinder 2 (TDC2) in that order.

 

thanks for the input guys... also one last thing, when rotating the cam gear, and the crank pulley, which direction do i turn them..?? should i tighten'm more or loosen'm "left or right basically..??"

 

Turn the crank only counterclockwise.

 

thanks a lot man... been a great help... this oughta be fun tryna get the timing belt on without having removed anything lol..

 

^ Yes it is superfun!

It really helps to have a spare person when you are doing it so they can see if you move the crank off TDC when tugging on the timing belt. If you have the top timing cover off and a view of the crank pulley, you can get it done.

IIRC 4 is close to TDC when 1 is set correctly to "UP" so you can reconnect the belt. If you are worried about it, when you get the head back on and are ready to put the belt on, make some piston finders out of 4 identical 15" or so lengths of cardboard cut half inch wide. Slip one down each plug hole. We double checked our setup after we put the belt back on, with the diz cap off so we could look at the rotor just to make absolutely sure we weren't cramming valves into pistons.

 

a bit confusing, but i understand... thanks for the idea, i was just thinkin a screwdriver or 2 in each hole lol... but good **** nonetheless...

 

Yeah, screwdrivers would work. I wanted something I could glance at and see really quickly where everything was without having to remember if the screwdrivers were all the same length or not.

 

yeah i got it back together without takin off the tensioner or anything, pain in the ***** but i got it thanks guys

 

how would the car run if it was off a tooth..??

 

In some cases, a tooth off may not prevent the engine from running but will cause it to run like crap.

 

i heard if its off to the left, that'd be running advanced which wouldnt do anything but give me better acceleration, but in my case i think im one tooth off to the right... didnt notice any acceleration issues just have this occasional sputter throughout my power band that im chasin down...

 

Incorrect. It will not give you better acceleration. It COULD damage the valves depending on how far off you are and it WILL not have power like it should. As for the whole timing belt issue, I take it you have since resolved it... but I did want to include that you should not be using two screwdrivers to hold jack. Loosen the timing belt tension, set the cam to "UP", set the crank to TDC and then simply slide the belt on. Its not rocket science and its not hard at all. It should take you less then 2-3 minutes to put the belt on and set the tension on it. You did tension the belt correctly after you installed it, right?

 

I did manage to get the belt back on but no i didnt tension it.. I slid it off the cam gear and i slid it on the cam gear...

i kno its not hard to do all those steps but i was in a rush, in the rain, an needed to get it done in like 20 minutes cuz it was about to be pitch black outside... but i also didnt feel like takin off the mounts, an all that **** just to get to the tensioner....

 

You don't need to remove any mounts to reach the tensioner. Each to his own. You SHOULD tension the belt correctly.. Especially if you had the head milled at all.

 

tru, i believe ur right.. i for some reason was thinkin that i had to take off the drivers side mount.. "maybe another setup is like that"... but anyways, i'm thinkin about takin the belt off the right way "once i find it in my helms" and just replacing it anyways, i dunno when it was last replaced although it looks good i bet it wouldnt hurt..

 

In order to REPLACE the timing belt, you will need to remove the drives side mount. Get a jack with a block of wood and jack the engine slightly... remove the mount and do the ole swappero... its not hard. Won't take long.

 

well my dads friend just stopped by, he's a mechanic at Jaguar an was sayin my timing belt was fine so i guess ima just adjust the tensioner..

 

It should have been pretty tight getting the new belt up over the cam pulley. If it is still on and your timing is all lined up, all you need to do is pop that little cover over the 14mm bolt that loosens the tensioner and loosen it. Let it find it's tension and then tighten it back down again.

You only need to have that front splash guard off to get this done. Everything else can be on; even the top timing cover as long as you are sure it is on and the timing is lined up.