i have a b20 swap crx thought i floated a valve got into taking my head off and found out the problem was somthing much simpler than that n now i need to know how to align my cam shafts, my intake shaft is in the right position i just wasnt paying attention to how the exuast was sitting in there and would really appreciate some help on how to align them... wooorrd

 

marks on cam gears or the holes in the cams

 

There are UP arrows on both Intake and Exhaust cams. They both need to be pointing straight up.

 

i took the belt off and the gears than took the exuast shaft out and was removing the intake cam when i discovered the problem and went back to put it all together and dont remember how the exuast cam was aligned.. haha HELP!!

 

If you have factory cam gears, then the arrows will point up. aftermarket gears will have the degree markings in place of the arrow. cam gears will have 2 notches on the outside edge of the gears' face right where it touches the belt that will align perfectly with the top of the head from left to right.

 

i already have the gears off ill put them on but it looks like the exuast shaft doesnt sit correctly when i align the notch cut out for the little key from both shaft up... if i put the gears on and they dont sit right when i align the arrows together how do i get it to sit tight?

 

Research. I would type it out but there are too many threads covering this same topic over and over. Google is your best friend or by a Helms or Chiltons book.

 

Did u put the cam caps on yet? It sounds like u didn't. Torque the caps down then with a 14mm u can turn each camshaft then align them straight up. Make sure ur crank is at tdc if u don't know for sure take the spark plug out and make sure the piston is all the way up and the white mark on the crank pulley is matched with the mark on the timing belt cover. If u don't know how to put the belt on u start from the crank then the tensioner then the water pump then the EXHAUST cam then over the INTAKE last

 

I know this thread is about 10 days old, but...

The 'up' arrows on the cam gears shouldn't point straight up when cams are set correctly for TDC. They'll be parallel to one another and perpendicular to an imaginary line connecting the center of the cams, but because the block tilts slighly forward the arrows won't point directly up.

There are two accurate ways to set cam TDC. One uses marks on the cam gears. One tooth on each gear is marked with an indentation (and sometimes with a dab of paint on it). If these teeth face one another the cams are at TDC.

The other is that there are holes in the cam holder plates (only visible if the valve cover is removed). You can put a 5 mm punch or Allen wrench through one of the holes, and if the cam is set at TDC the punch will go through the hole in the holder plate and into a corresponding hole in the cam. If it doesn't go through, the camshaft isn't at TDC. There are more holes in the holder plate than there are holes in the camshaft, so you have to find the correct hole. It's not hard because you can actually see the hole in the camshaft if you look under the plate.