I am replacing my timing chain and I ran into a problem.
Before taking it apart I put the #1 cylinder at TDC by rotating the engine until both valves were closed (looking through the oil fill hole on the drivers side valve cover) when coming up on zero degrees.
Now when I put the new timing chain on (or atempt to)the cam is out of sync by 180 degrees! The dot for top gear is all the way to the top while the bottom gear has the dot in the correct place.
What happened? Thanks in advance, Curt.
I'll bet you are not on compression stroke but you are at the end of exhaust stroke and starting the intake stroke. During overlap, both valves are open just a little bit.
Next time, wad up a piece of newspaper and stuff it in the spark plug hole. It should be about the size of a cherry. When you turn the engine over, the paper will pop out of the hole just before you get to TDC.
Turn your engine over 360* and you will find you are now at TDC on compression. The timing marks will now be in the right position.
Good luck!
I use a tool called the "whistler". This is not the compression ratio "whistler" that NASCAR uses. It is a simple whistler that is very responsive to air flowing through it. And, not surprisingly, it whistles when the piston you are interested in is on its compression stroke. It is surprisingly accurate.
The only problem is that I can't remember who I bought it from. Maybe another member will have a better memory than mine.
Patrick Ireland
Yep, it is the Eastwood Company.
Website is eastwoodco.com. Look in the engine tools section.
Patrick Ireland