I am planning to put a B16a into my 93 EJ1. I was getting ready to do a leakdown test on it and I looked at the gears to check the timing on them. I looks like the one on the left is off by a tooth. Am I looking at it wrong? because to my understanding, both ups should be between the little metal plate behind them and the face of the gears should be straight across.

 

close up of timing marks.

 

Looks pretty clearly off to me.

 

Yea, look at the up marks on both cam gears.. left one looks off by like couple degrees while the right one is good(relative to the left one) do it again.

 

TIming gears using left most timing mark on crank pully





timing gears using second mark (rightmost) Seems a little better





Both notches appear to be at TDC when I slide a dipstick into the cylinder 1

But in neither case, the lines on the sides of the gears match up with the line on the back of the housing?

 

Because your exhaust cam is two teeth off.

 

Fair enough. (I didnt do this original timing job) So I will just have to reset things. Does the mark on the back plate enter into this equation? It seems incredibly high up and doesnt line up with either of the marks. Also which white mark do I use on the crank pulley?

 

From the FAQ sticky:



The TDC mark is the single mark, positioned away from the three ignition timing marks. The two "inner" marks (at 90* on exhaust cam gear, and 270* on intake cam gear) should point directly at each other at TDC.

 

Gracias.

 

timing definitely looks off as stated. you can also lock the cams at tdc using allen keys. there is an opening in the cam covers that should line up with a hole in the camshaft. this will help ensure timing is correct.

 

Its off, you need to put the crank at the mark that is further away from the other 3 and than look at your cam gears. If they aren't lined up than its off.

 

Will save you so much time when doing this. It's right in front of you but you'd never know unless someone told you haha DO THIS NAO