Bigeggroll

i'm not sure if i'm being a little paranoid, but when i put cylinder # 1 at TDC (according to the crankshaft pulley) my cam gears seem to be a little off. it actually looks worst in the picture because it so zoomed in, but is this ok?


Please excuse the quality, it was taken with a cell phone

PeanutButter

Is that before of after the cam caps are tightened down?

If its before. then tighten it and see where they line up.

If it is after, something is off.

jimknapp

I think you just put on a new head if I'm not mistaken. Sooo... make sure the tensioner is in, the 5mm bolt is un-screwed from the plunger inside and the little pin (if you used one) is pulled out through that extra hole in the front of the head so taht the tensioner will release. Then crank the engine forward to the white mark, not the red one, for TDC. And don't forget to loosen all of the adjuster screws on the cam followers before you install anything. I have found that alignment things are as you see them more often than not, however, for some reason now and then they settle in just perfect.

I'd go with it as is. There is a lot of piston to valve clearance with these motors, even in VTEC so no need to worry about that.

Keep the shiny side up,

Jim

mxt_77

Where exactly did you have the crank pulley aligned? When I lined mine up with the mark (I can't remember if it was the red or the white or something else), I remember noticing that my cam pulley markings weren't perfectly aligned.

However, I've had my head milled a bit, so I suspect that could've also been contributing. I have a pic at home somewhere, but I'll probably forget to come back and update this thread when I get home.

Honestly, I wouldn't worry about it much unless they are off significantly. From your pic, they look reasonably close.

Bigeggroll

awesome!!! thanks for the replys guys. i lined the arrow up with the white mark on the crank pulley for TDC. From what i remember when #1 was a TDC, the cam pulley marks weren't perfectly lined either, but i wasn't sure, so i wanted to double check. My head was also resurfaced, so maybe that might affect the alignment. i figured if anything my intake cam might just be slightly advanced.

yeah, the picture was taken after i pulled the set pin on the auto cam tensioner and tightened down the cam caps.

thx again guys

Bigeggroll

whoa i just noticed ur in San Diego, u should come out to one of the meets sometime i wanna hear more about the "Barnyard Bearcat"

Slows2k

Do you have the chain tensioner released?

If you are using a stock PCM it won't start with either cam out of time.

Bigeggroll

yeah, i released the chain tensioner already. yeah i have a stock PCM, so do u think i should pull the cams out and stick it back in?

Billman250

The marks should line up with the gap between the upper and lower cam journal, when looking at it straight on.

Get a better pic.

And don't even think about cranking the engine with the cams out of time. Bad advice...

Billman250

To me it looks like the intake cam needs to go one tooth clockwise