Ive put on and retentioned my belt 4 times now and every time i put my crank at tdc it looks like my cam gears are off a bit is this normal or am i off a notch on my cams. Ive only hand cranked it to this point i really hope i havent bent valves

 

It looks perfect at the crank and the cams look to be half a tooth off.

 

Im sorry this is my first timing belt job, what do i need to change?

 

Have you gone through the tightening procedure? Sometimes that can change how all the alignment looks once you get the belt on.

 

Yes this is after tensioning

 

It just seems like my crank could move clockwise the tiniest bit which would make my cams off a full notch right therefore its off? Idk i cant get the crank any closer to tdc

 

Loosen the belt tensioner take off the belt and line up the cams perfectly, even use a 14mm socket and hold the intake cam or exhaust cam at TDC whichever one needs to be held while you slide the timing belt on. Then tighten it up and see where it sits. Get an extra set of hands in there if you need help. But for your first timing belt job you have done a great job. Be patient with this it takes some time to master we all have our own ways of doing things.

 

Its fine.

 

So what will happen if he reassembles it this way?

 

never hurts to watch a few yootoobs:

https://www.youtube.com/results?sear...de+timing+belt

 

DCFIVER the timing is off so it is not going to run absolutely perfect. Timing is a huge deal, that is why it goes a long way to get it right and perfectly lined up. And if the timing is off by more then a tooth most times you can cause serious engine damage hence pistons hitting the valves.

 

Ok put the belt over the cams. Zip tie the belt to the top of the cams. Then work down to crank gear, tensioner, then slide over water pump.

If when doing this the belt doesn't line up to the crank perfectly, set the crank just a tad (like 1/16") counterclockwise. Then add tension until the crank gear moves to tdc.

The other way to do it can be start at crank, run up to exhaust gear, then over intake gear. Very slowly tension the front side with a 14mm, then run down water pump and over tensioner last.

It's an art. And whatever u do, do not point cams UP up. don't just go by the center hash marks. Check the hash marks that line up with the plane of the head (outer Hash marks).

 

For the record, my timing looked like yours the first couple times I did it. Ran ran good not perfect. Once I got the timing dead on, I felt power I'd never felt in the car before.

Came to find that my previous timing from previous engine owner was off at least a whole tooth at the crank.

 

Thanks alot everyone, ok i do believe my timing is off so im gonna get someone to help me this time and be more careful. I will let you know how it gos.

 

You are good to start the car up. I did my timing belt on my integra and had the same results. I could never line up the cams perfectly.
Car started up perfectly and i have been driving the car for 2k miles without any hesitation or anything. Felt smoother than before the job because the old belt was probably stretched slightly from 90k miles of use.

If you do decide to take off the belt again, consider changing the camshaft seals as they look like it's coated in oil.

 

Ok im doing the zip tie to cams first and im pretty absolutely sure its at tdc but there seems to be a bit of sag as u can see in pic does it look ok or what?

 

Ok just put the belt around the crank gear now and check that the belt has tension on the front side and lines up to tdc on crank. If it does, loop it into the tensioner then slide around water pump. Cut the zip ties, turn crank 3 teeth, Add tension. then spin the engine a bunch of tines and check all the markings. The idea is to get the slack in the belt in the water pump area when u install it so the alignment if the cams and crank doesn't change. It's worth taking 10 tries if u have to to make it perfect. Trust me. If it still doesn't go into alignment, send me a pm and I'll send u my number and I can give u real time advice as u do it

 

The idea is not complex. If that dowsn't work, try this. U can tey this. start from the crank. Run up to the exhaust gear, and turn gear slightly forward, then put on belt and use 14mm to slowly turn gear back to tdc so it's tight on the front side. Make sure crank sprocket doesn't move. Then drop it over the intake gear, same technique. It should all line up perfectly at that point. Then zip tie it down. At this point u will have a mostly tensioned belt. You'd bring it over the tensioner, and slide around water pump. Add tension to this area with spring/auto tensioner. Then turn 3 teeth and retension. At this point u should be golden.

 

The timing is not off. There is no such thing as "half a tooth" off. That is backyard mechanic lingo. There is slight play in the gears and crank shaft. With those gears lined up as they are in his picture,I guarantee the valves are completely shut and the piston is at TDC. The timing will not get better than that.



His car will run absolutely fine the way it is, and struggling to line up that last "half tooth" will not change anything.

 

In one of those pictures, timing looks fine to me.

Could possibly be the angle of the picture that made it look off. It is definitely not a tooth off. Its like < 1 mm off.

 

You also want to make sure there is no slack in the belt between the cams.. looks like there is play between them.

Something to consider.

 

Not true. There is a such thing as "half a tooth off". Its when there's too much slack one way or another between the cams. So if the slack in the belt stays there when tension is added, that "half a tooth off" will become a full tooth, stay slightly off, or roll back to dead even. When I did my timing belt, it looked just like that, half tooth off. Timing jumped to a full tooth off the first two times. I finally figured out my own way to keep it all centered. The point some of us are making, is that dead even timing is very important, and considering it literally takes 15min every time to try and set it, its worth trying different methods until the belt goes on just perfect.

Also, you don't know what stroke his engine is on. Valves could be halfway open, or they could be fully closed. Just an fyi

 

I am no F20B guy but I thought the H22 belt wont work...F20B is by itself on correct belt... not correct amount of teeth... thought something like GSR?

 

What DCFIVER said.


OP, if you can't get it lined up perfectly perfectly, put everything back to together and fire the car up and see how it runs. You will know right away if the timing is off. If timing really is off(which i dont think it is), take it apart and try again. No damage will be done if timing is off. Make sure all the nuts and bolts are tight before starting up the car.

 

Ok so i have just redone my belt and this is the outcome i still have no idea if if its right this is getting pretty silly.