The camshaft and cam pulley broke on my 97 accord the other day. I took the head off and have decided to purchase a rebuilt head and a new pulley since the old one was cracked. My question is how do you correctly set the timing withe the new head and the bottom end of motor? And does the distributor need to be in a certain possition when reinstalled? Any help would be much appreciated.

 

There is a pretty comprehensive DIY post on timing belt change in the Accord FAQ's.

Any of the manuals that you can buy or download will also have step by step articles on how to do this job. Helms, Haynes etc..etc...

Or you could try picking up this good video for setting the timing.

 

Yes I have done the timing belt before. My question is if you have a new head and cam pulley the new head is not going to be in time with the bottom end of motor. How do you set the timing on the head so that it will match up? I'm not using same head. Normally you would line up timing marks if using same head when pulling it but with a new head it's not going to be same.

 

It is still the "same" head casting therefor the cams and distributor will be in the same position. They use keys and timing marks to put them in place. It may not be the same head but they are timed the same way.

Install the head and make sure the up arrow on the cam gear is up.... and the two marks on the edge of the gear teeth are in line with the head surface. Then you know that the head/cam and distributor are "in time". doesn't matter what head it is, the process is the same as changing the timing belt.

Honda was smart when it came to timing there engines. All the parts are marked and for the most part will only go together one way. Makes it pretty simple to replace parts this way.

 

Thank you very much for the info.

 

No problem....

FYI the 96+ Accord timing is adjusted by the ECU, the distributors are not adjustable from the factory. You set base timing with the ECU. There is a procedure for that as you probably know if you have already done a timing belt change.