Have another quick question for you guys.

Recently I replaced my timing belt but I'm concerned I may be off a tooth or two with the new one..
Car seems to run best where it's set now but the reference lines on the cam gear (with crank turned TDC compression stroke) don't line up with the sight on the cover/head perfectly. Should I just be happy with where it's at and that it's running? Haha

also are AEM TruTime cam gears reliable? I've had mine on for a couple years now..had a friend advance it 3degrees when he helped me install it and ever since I've wanted it back to 0 (stock) but it seems to run worse. If they have a bad rep or something I can always just go back to stock.

Pics:
TDC set on crank and the second pic is the lines for the cam gear im talking about.
(please ignore the sharpie marks I made)

 

You need to research what cam timing affects I think

 

Not sure what you mean..I know it's definitely close, like I said maybe a tooth or so off..
was just wondering if the marks MUST line up perfectly with the sight?
or if it's ok where its set now if its runing good.

New to engine timing so just trying to make sense of it all. Thanks for your patients.

 

Somebody gotta know this..or maybe someone just tell/show me how the cam gear marks line up on theirs (with crank marks TDC)

 

You are obviously off one tooth on your mechanical timing (and this is not OK)... the mark on the outer gear (where you have the sharpie marks) at about the 7 O-clock position must line up at or very close to the arrow on the inner timing cover that you drew a yellow "^" on. Now, since you stated that the car runs good like it is, this may be because you are using a Y8 cam gear on a Z6 engine. The keyway is indexed approximately 8 degrees different between the two applications, and advancing your cam gear as pictured one tooth is about 9.5 degrees... so my suggestion to you would be to put it in PROPER mechanical time and then advance the cam gear to the first mark past the "5" mark and see if it runs the same as it does now... and don't forget to reset your distributor timing.

 

Thanks for the reply man.
so your saying to retard the gear just 1 tooth then advance (the adjustable part) to 6degrees?
As much as i like how the trutime looks, im starting to think the safest bet would be to just put the stock gear back on..certainly want function over appearance.. also need to get a timing light asap for the dizzy to make sure that's right.

 

UPDATE: BIG progress made today. Got a timing light and followed the procedure for ignition timing.
Turns out I was wayyyyy off from when I replaced the dizzy a while back. Got it set just right with the help of a little white-out and just went ahead and put my OE cam gear back on and now ALL of my bottom end power is back! It's like a new car, seriously.
Feel so dumb for not doing this when it was replaced..

The idle seems rough/low at times now but I'm thinking maybe its because I reset my ecu after ignition timing and it's just trying to relearn the right way since its been wrong for so long? Other times it idles perfectly.
I got the timing mark as close as possible to the triangle sight too so I hope it's all finally right..
(picture at the bottom)

was having a lot of tps issues prior to this that I thought I had all straightened out and calibrated but that could possibly be a suspect too i guess.

Overall, I'm actually excited to drive my honda again and had the best results today.

This was as close as I could get. One more tooth "retarded" and it was pretty far off from the sight. Same with one tooth "advanced" so this must be it.

 

Based on the pic you just posted, and assuming that the white mark on the crank pulley is at or really close to the pointer on the timing cover (like in your original pictures above in the top post)... you are in fact in proper mechanical time. Once you set the distributor/ignition timing, the car should perform like stock.