[ckillerh3]

=========Valve Timing Chain Questions=========

As per the Haynes manual, I attempted to adjust my valve timing to
account for stretch in the timing chain. I have some ANGST about this
proceedure and wanted to relate what I did before I attempt to fire up
the engine again.

1) I set the car to top-dead-center as best I could (both lobes of the valves "up",
and a nylon tie inserted into the #1 piston to verify it was a the top of its stroke).
I jammed a block down the chain guides to keep the chain in place, then removed the fastening bolt / eliptical oil pump cog.

2) Next, I rotated knocked the top timing gear loose and rotated it from the #1 positon to the #2 position by rotating it clockwise until the allignment pin on the end of the cam shaft matched up with the #2 hole on the gear.

3) I spend about a hour trying to get the gear back onto the end of the cam.
It was easy to get the gear back on the allignment pin, but could not get it
the rest of the way on because the raised circular "seat" would not mate
with the valve gear. I ended up taking a pair of vise grips and rotating the
valve cam slightly to make it mate up.

I spun the engine a few times with no crunching noises from the valve train. The straight allignment mark on the cam now sits directly inside the "V" of the timing gear. This probably indicates I should move the gear to the #3 position. HOWEVER . . . .

The manual talks about shiny links and bologna like that. All the links look
BROWN to me. I never made a scribe make where the #1 punch mark alligned
with the chain, so I'm flying blind at this point. I'm almost at the point where I'm thinking about just replacing the whole chain altogether.

Any suggestions? Does my description of what I did sound OK?

Sincerely,
Nervous in New Jersey

In any case . . . does it sound like I did the proceedure correctly.

 

[Q]

It sounds like you did everything fine to me, assuming you meant fuel pump where you wrote oil pump. Everything else looks OK. If you change the timing gear to position #3 and it still isn't where it should be, then think about replacing the chain and gears. I personally wouldn't worry about the shiny link stuff. Remember that the Haynes guys got fresh cars with fresh motors that they tore apart and rebuilt. Just make sure your timing marks are right, valves are in the right locations, no funky noises when you turn the engine over by hand, and leave it at that.
Good luck.
Q

 

[jerja]

The shiny link is not important. It is only an aid when installing the chain and has nothing to with the actual timing. The right hand leg of the V should be approx one sixtenth of an inch to the right of the oblong mark as you are looking aft. Usually if it is directly over the oblong the timing is slightly retarted but not anything to fret over. Retarting the valve timing can add a slight bit of HP at the upper engine RPM's. Advancing the timing will add to the lower engine RPM's.

If you select a new hole position you will have to rotate the camshaft slightly to install the gear. This happens because the new hole selection rotated the camshaft gear in relation to the camshaft. That is how the valve timing is changed.

 

[ckillerh3]

Thank You ! Valve Timing??s

Hi Jerja and Q,

Thank you both for your timely answers to my questions ! You have raised my Z-IQ and lowered my Blood Pressure. I will try to relax a bit, move to hole #3, and fire the old girl up one more time.

Regards,

Stephen Wagner
NJ Z Guy