the motor is a jdm gsr.... i took these pics with the motor set at tdc for cylinder 1..... in my opinion the cams are leaning way to far forward, or left, in these pictures.... i'm actually thinking of moving both cams to the right by one tooth..... should i? the motor does feel underpowered and this seems to be the only remaining possibile explanation. thanks in advance.

 

Yeah, I don't think it would hurt to try and line them up properly (to OEM settings).

 

The exhaust and intake cams are not timmed.
We see the mark on the exhaust cam but not on the intake cam.
Remove the timming belt and align these 2 mark on your cams gear. The intake cams seem to be ''off'' by a tooth or two.

 

yeah, the lines on the cam gears should aling with each other, and the bottom line should line up as well. you are definitely off timing, and that can most likely cause you to have your timing extremely retarded.

 

i corrected the timing..... it's MUCH smoother now... i'm not sure it it's got more power since i just changed the oil and was taking it easy.... thanks for confirming my thoughts, though.

 

check your crank mark with the lower timming cover off. You might be on the advanced timming mark on the crank