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See where my idler gear black dot is? Thats where it sets in relation to the intake gear tooth with the crank lined up exactly on the white mark. Minitoyota, why is yours more to the left than mine? Is your white mark aligned perfectly on the crank? Also, if you look at the black dot on the idler gear in relation to the intake gear tooth with the pulley mark lined up with the red mark in my second set of pics, it looks more like yours. This is so confusing and frustrating. I just dont know now if mine is correct or not.
Ok, here is where my crank pulley mark is with the cams and idler gear aligned perfectly. Would it be correct then? The crank pulley mark falls right between the white and red marks. The thing is, with all the gears aligned perfectly, the crank pulley mark is either going to fall between the white and red mark or if the chain is repositioned, it will have the crank pulley mark fall just to the left of the white mark. Or, if you reposition the chain the other way, the crank pulley mark will fall just to the right of the red mark. So, my question is, which way is correct? Crank pulley mark falling just to the left of the white mark? Crank pulley mark falling right between the white and red marks? Or the crank pulley mark falling just to the right of the red mark with the idler and cam gears aligned perfectly? Somebody must know this answer.....Right?
Could someone just align their idler and cam gears perfectly and tell me where their crank pulley mark falls? Maybe show a pic too please? This could solve all my questioning if it looks just like mine.
I think because you have the 3mm it's putting it between the marks. If i remember correctly after I took my 2 mm hg out and put the oem one back on mine was right over the white mark. Do you remember where it was when you took the head off at Tdc? If the hash marks are aligned and your at Tdc I don't see why'd you have an issue.
Edit: stick your finder through the tct hole and press on the chain sometimes the slack in the chain will make it look a little off too if there is any. I remeber mine not lining up correctly unless there was tension on the chain
Heres how mine looked after the first time with the 2mm head gasket in, although the last time I did this (Last week) the cam markings looked more "matched up".
I think my picture is more misleading than help though, so sorry in advance. I'm changing valve covers this weekend so I'll take a good snapshot and post it up for you.
Think about it this way......With the 3mm HG I have the idler and cam gears aligned perfectly and the crank pulley mark falls between the white and red marks. Imagine that if you dropped the head back down 3mm, still with the idler and cam gears aligned perfectly but without the 3mm HG and back to the stock height, it would create a little slack in the chain. To get rid of that slack, you would have to turn the crank a little bit clockwise to take up the chain slack and it would put the crank pulley mark right on the white mark. Does this make sense?
Also, if my idler and cam gears are aligned perfectly with the 3mm HG and the crank pulley mark falls right between the white and red mark, wouldnt that make it at about 5 deg advanced if the red mark is 10 deg advanced? Isnt that about right with the 3mm HG?
Turbokev, yours looks almost identical to mine in the pic with my crank pulley mark on the white mark. Your intake cam gear mark is just slightly lower than the exhaust cam gear mark. Look at the teeth on both cams in relation to the top of the chain. The intake cam tooth is slightly more covered by the chain than the exhaust cam gear tooth. That looks a lot like mine when I'm aligned on the white crank pulley mark. See what i mean? I think mine is correct. I'm just a worry wart. LOL
