Hey gang, new to the site and looking for some help. I have done a complete tear down to remove head gasket and I followed the instructions to set TDC. I have verified TDC with marks on crank/oil pump arrow, the mark on the crank pulley and when I looked at the cam shaft sprocket the “UP” stamp is pointing down? Now instructions to put it all back together says to set this mark to the UP position. I fear if I do that it will be 180 off?

Again in I have verified I am on TDC before anything was tore down but when on TDC the cam sprocket is pointing down instead of UP like the mark says. The car was running just fine when I pulled it into the garage, I was having overheating issues that lead to head gasket. Why would this sprocket be pointing down when I set TDC?

Thanks in advance

 

i see where you would start to question your skills here but dont panic haha
just rotate that crank one full turn again and line up that timing mark again and then im sure your cam chaft sprocket will be pointing up now

every full turn of your crank is only half a turn for your cam so odds are your timings right but verify it first before you start putting the covers back on and stuff

 

Thanks for the reassurance, just so I can sleep tonight could you clarify for me. I have already torn the entire system apart with the crank at TDC but it seeems I had the exhaust stroke lined not the compression stroke. Is it safe to say I can just now rotate the crank 1 turn and feel confident the time is set if I install it all over the book with the timing mark up on the sprocket?

 

if you already removed the belt my advice would be to pull the camshaft and move it back to tdc

moving either the crank or cam that many teeth will cause a valve to contact a piston unless you pull the cam

keep in mind that the crank turns twice for every revolution of the cam so you need to be sure that both the crank and cam are both at tdc before removing the belt

the crank could be at tdc while the cam is 180 degrees off of tdc, as it is now

 

actually, you could just put the belt on as it is now and turn crank til the cam lines up to tdc to be sure it's totally at tdc, you're only going to be off a teeth or so until you rotate it back to tdc and check again and you won't be in danger of any issues, if you make sure the cam is totally pointing down then you could in theory have it perfect still

 

of course you got it
your way over thinking this whole thing haha
you got it right

the picture im about to show you is not your motor
but the idea is the same
crank mark lined up with the arrows and the cam marks lined up
with the word up pointing up
thats what you should have


good luck