i was going to advance my timing with the stock cam gear and i came to find that it is way off/weird. so, cam gear "up" is up, the lower 6:35 mark is aligned with the cover mark. but the crank pulley tdc marks(3) were WAY off. so i decided to make a mark as to where its sitting at. moved it into the middle mark, moved the cam back to tdc, and it doesnt start. i then go back to where i made the mark and it starts. its even way off from the single line mark. so whats going on here?

 

You do realize that the single mark is used for finding TDC for the crankshaft in relation to the camshaft and the group of 3 marks is used for adjusting timing for your distributor right?

 

yea... but the point is, my timing was way off from the three and even the single mark.

 

What I suggest doing it removing the crank pulley, checking the mark on the crank gear itself to make sure the line on there is dead on with the mark that is stamped on the block.

This will give you TDC. The cam(s) if you have a SOHC or DOHC ZC, make sure the mark says up and the lines are lines up parallel with the head. Install the timing belt and adjust the ignition timing accordingly. Usually it's 16 deg Before TDC.

Check this link if you need picture references:

http://www.clubcivic.com/board/showthread.php?t=110902

 

My point is that you adjusted the cam to be at TDC and you set the crank to the middle mark of the three notches. You DO NOT use those to set TDC for the crank, you use the single mark. You only reference those three marks when using a timing light to set distributor timing.

 

yea i get what your saying 24ten, thanks. but where its set right now(which is way off the single line), thats where it runs best.

dephtone- shouldn't it not matter if you take the pulley off since it's already key'd in? meaning it sits in by a key, unless there isn't a key inside which the pulley has moved? damn.... actually now that i said that, i have to check it out.