installed my gsc 272/272 cams, went very smooth, used the zip tie method for the cam gears, after R/R intake and exhaust cams, i went to replace the cam gears, the intake cam gear went on without a hitch with just minor adjust of the cam so the dowel would line up.

exhaust cam gear wont line up with exhaust cam. its as if i cant get it high enough, even though the dowel seems like it would line up, kinda hard to explain so i attached some pics... also, the cam gears are literally meshed together. the tensioner tool is in, i tried adjusting it to help me get some more play but to no avail....

is there something, simple or blatant that im doing wrong, or did i FUBAR the timing and should get the motor professionally retimed?

hope the pictures explain it....

oh and i left the car overnight cuz i didnt wnat to force anything, so the tensioner is in place is that ok?

pic hosting site is down, ill post pics later this am...

anyone have any ideas?

 

If I'm reading this right you can't get the bolt in the exhaust cam?

Sounds like there is still tension on the belt pulling the gears together and not letting the gear rotate out enough to line up the dowel and the bolt.

I'll be better able to help once pics are up.

 

Yep, sounds like the tensioner is still trying to load the gears and pulling against the gear.. This happened to me once when I wasn't sure the tensioner was fully retracted.. I hate to say this, but you might have to turn the crankshaft ever so slightly if your sure the tensioner is all the way in, the slack may be on the front side of things.. But you have to be really careful and take up the slack carefully.. THEN, you have to check the timing really carefully (follow the evomoto instructions) since you had to rotate the crank slightly to take up slack, you just don't want it to slip ANY Teeth, and you have to be certain the belt, gears, and everything else lines up.. But its not as bas as it sounds, or anything to be overly concerned about.

 

ok heres the pic of the cam gears (pic directly below), the intake cam gear is on the intake camshaft lines up nice, however the ehxaust cam gear is all meshed up against the intake cam gear and i cant get enough slack to rotate it just a hair to meet up with the exhaust camshaft, its right near the dowel as well, see the circled black with the arrow, that shows how much im off of the threads on the exhaust cam.

and i think you are right, when i tried to increase the slack by threading in the tensioner more, the intake camgear had the slack and it went up, but the exhaust camgear didnt get anymore slack, so i backed out the tensioner tool some again. (not all the way)

the above picture shows where my crank is currently, the pinhole is pointing in the general ahead direction still, but when i look from the top, my mark is not TDC where it was at the beginning of the install... (is this because of slack still in the system?)

the last pic shows how i had carefully removed the cam gears, and how i ziptied them to the ac line... thanks for any help!!!! i need this car running if not, then ill have to flatbed it to a shop to have it re-timed from scratch.

 

Yeah, that's what I thought it was going to look like.

Like Jack said, you are probably going to have to turn the crank counterclockwise to get some slack on the exhaust side.

Although I think when I did mine I just put a wrench on the exhaust cam and carefully turned it to where I could get the bolt started using the alignment pin as a cam to get the holes to line up.

Just be sure to turn the engine a couple of times after you're done and make sure the timing is correct.

 

counterclockwise? i thought that was a sure way method of slipping teeht on the cam sprocket?

do i have to turn it so much that i need to unhook my zipties? or is it subtle enough (in your opinion) that i can do it iwth the zipties on....

 

can you get the cam gear bolt into the cam? same thing happened to me on the exhaust side. i was only off like 1/16" to get the dowel pin in. it helped to begin to thread the bolt in. just becareful not to cross thread it.

 

first you need to set your crank to TDC.

next, make sure you have as much slack in the belt as possible with the tensioner tool

now, you may not be able to line the cam gear up with the dowel on the cam without rotating the cam a bit. there is a hex section on the cam that you can grab with a large crecent wrench and rotate the cam so that the dowel lines up with the hole in the gear. it takes quite a bit of force sometimes to get the gear back on the cam. you may even notice that there is excess slack in the belt between the cams. once everything is in, release the tension, and rotate the crank around slowly to get the slack out of the system with the hydraulic tensioner. once you have made two full revolutions, check to see if the crank pulley and the cams are all at TDC still.

and the gears are meshing together because you don't have the gear on the exhaust cam yet. once it is on you wont have interference.

 

You should not be doing both cams at once. You do the exhaust, then the intake.

Take a wrench on the exhaust cam and rotate it clockwise as you put the gear on and it should allow you to get the bolt in.

 

Just get the wrench on the exhaust cam and turn it until it lines up with the gear? Maybe i am not reading it right

 

Yeah, I never even realized you did the intake cam first.. Basically as long as everything on the cam gear and belt are lined up right, you can rotate the crank slightly to give yourself a little slack, but you need to have someone holding the gears to keep them from slipping teeth.. Otherwise all the advice applies...

 

We are talking just enough to take the slack that is on the intake side and have it on the exhaust side. Should not need to cut the zipties.

You can probably hold the belt in the grooves on the crank while turning it to make sure it doesn't jump time.

 

i tried that, i just cant get the exhaust cam high enough to full get on the dowel....

 

counterclockwise right? ok, ill have someone hold the cam gears tight, while i rotate the crank back a bit..

and start off wiht the exhaust camgear right? i acutally initially tried to get the exhaust camgear in first but i couldnt so i tried the intake and that went in nicely.

oh and should i fuxxer with the tensioner or not? i didnt know the tool was supposed to be all the way in, i just eye balled and yanked on the slack in between cam gears like on evomoto..before i took them off.

so should i put the tool in all the way before i counterclockwise rotate my crank?

 

nope to tight...