Ok i have a quick question. I got a new head for my ls and i put the new one on and everything. I put the timing belt on right where the crank pulley is lined up with the line on the plastic and the cam gears are pointing up. I put the belt on and i see that the exhaust cam gear is off it is not pointing straight up its like at 11 o clock. I have adj. cam gears so i loosened the bolts and made the cam gear pointing straight up. Is this a problem? Or do i have to take off the timing belt and redo it so that they are both up with out adjusting the cam gear?

 

You must be doing something wrong. Why do you even have adjustable camshaft sprockets? Do you have upgraded camshafts? If not then put the stock ones back on. If you don't have the stock ones then put everything at Zero like it should be and redo the timing belt.

 

yea i got upgraded cams crower 404's. So y would i have to redo it? They are both are facing to the top when i adjusted the cam gears. And they are all lined up on the crank pulley also.

 

Yeah but did you do your valve to valve clearancing or piston to valve clearancing before you went and adjusted your camshaft gears? Really you need to degree your camshafts and do it properly if you have after market camshafts. Especially if you have your head or block milled. It WILL change your camshaft timing.

If you are telling me that I am wrong then do it how you want and stop asking people what you should do... its your motor I am trying to help you but it will not affect me one bit if you blow it.

 

thanks n3va. I want to get my cams degreed but i just want to get my car running first. After it is running all good then i will get it degreed. And stupid question what do u mean valve to valve clrearance/piston. Like i said all the things are lined up like they should be. Would u recommend me to put the cam gears back to what they were before and take the timing belt off again, and this time make sure that they are pointing up with out adjusting the cam gears? Or just leave it how it is and it is fine what i did?

 

I would put them back to 0 on the intake and exhaust camshafts. That will allow you the most clearance (unless of course you have the head or block milled then it will change your base degree to get the camshafts in a safe starting position). The reason to degree with aftermarket camshafts is because they are typically not ground exact. So you have to adjust them to how it should be.

There are people that will just adjust back and forth on the Dyno to see "what the motor likes". This is fine and dandy but it is still the ghetto way to do it. The manufacture that put in a lot of time and research knows what the camshafts should be set at and then it is up to you (or your tuner) to tune the motor to where the camshafts are set. Typically anyways where the “motor likes” the camshafts tends to be exactly where you were supposed to degree them in the first place.

Valve to Valve clearance is a concern when it comes to how much overlap you are running. Running not enough Valve to Valve clearance could cause the valves to hit at higher RPMs (i.e. from valve float) and I think you can figure out the aftermath.

Piston to Valve is the clearance given a specific degree between the valve and the piston. Again when you start adjusting the camshaft gear too much a valve may come in contact with the piston as Honda motors are interference engines.

 

ok thanks a lot im am going to redo my timing and make sure that they are at 0 with out adjusting them.