Im having trouble setting everything to TDC...is there a site that'll explain how to do it all??? My cam gears keep ending up looking like this...

 

are you using skunk2 cam gears, or are you a tooth off on the belt, are you using the right timing belt?




[Modified by chet, 5:00 PM 2/12/2003]

 

The two dots on the side need to line up. The top dots should point vertically upward but Ive seen some where they actually point inward a tad.

 

i had a problem like that before on my stocks. but I worked with it a couple of times and it lined up somehow. Make sure you are using the correct timing belt. then try taking off the belt and start over until you get it to work.

ive also heard if aftermarket cams not lining up right because they aren't marked right.

 

all skunk2 cam gears are like that ... I can advise you put it in and offset the cam gear ... It doesn;t usually affect me because I degree the cams anyway, but for oyu you;ll need to adjust the gear to compensate.

greg

 

Easiest way to to see if the skunks are off is to take your stock gears and check the points vs the skunk2's. Mine were right on, but I still had the same problem, getting them to line up. Make sure crank is at TDC. **** ex gear to left of straight up. Install timing belt over ex gear and turn gear clockwise to remove slack from belt inbetween ex gear and oil pump gear. Ex gear should now be staight up. Set IN gear cocked slight left of straight up, slip on timing belt. Turn IN gear clockwise to remove slack between IN, EX gears. Gears should line up. Then get all slack in the belt on the intake side of engine, tighten tensioner.

 

I just thought of something...could this little misalignment be because the cam gears have been adjusted before??? right now they are not set to stock, or zero or whatever...

 

the 2 marks that say up dont mean anything other than UP. the 2 TDC markers have to line up. thats all. now tuning them i dunno. but 100% only the TDC markers matter. If you are worried, I'd have someone who knows what they are doing fix it. As if you don't, valves will kiss the pistons. Or even worse completely bend. Which will destroy alot. hehe.

Myself have never tuned adjustable cams. I have set up TDC with stock cam gears though. And my UP markers were way outta whack. One pointed a little to the left. while the other pointed directly up. Was wierd, but I lined up the TDC markers, and it runs great. Drove it to a mechanic friend of mine. "HE" said i did it right.

Adjustable cams though. No clue. I think it has the same concept though.

 

is the head milled/resurfaced? if it is that can make a difference

 

Yes

 

I messed around a little with the timing and everything tonight...and this is what I came up with...

 

BTW, the Intake gear is +2, and the Exhaust is -1......

 

I'm glad someone else said that . Both of my up marks point alittle torwards the front.

 

Here's my "TDC" on my LS engine, this is before I did an T-Belt / water pump change over...

As you can see they also pointed "inwards", car ran awesomel, no complaints....

 

There is one little hole on top of each camshaft near the cam gear side. You need to use two 5mm pin punches to keep the camshafts from shifting while you're installing the timing belt. I couldn't find any, so I used the end of two drill bits instead. Ghetto, but it worked.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Vu &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">There is one little hole on top of each camshaft near the cam gear side. You need to use two 5mm pin punches to keep the camshafts from shifting while you're installing the timing belt. I couldn't find any, so I used the end of two drill bits instead. Ghetto, but it worked.</TD></TR></TABLE>

same here...

 

Happened to me also but my cylinder head was resurfaced. My skunk2 cam gears were a 1/2 tooth off and the t belt had no slack at all. My gears looked like this
exhaust __ --- intake. Once the car was running i checked the ignition timing and noticed it was at 12 degrees. So i compensated by advancing both gears 1 degree.