I have read and read, and I am not to clear on what to do. I am re-assembling my engine block and I am to the installation of my timing belt, I had HKS 272's prior to this build and the gears where installed by English Racing without any changes to the gear settings, but now I have GSC S3's.

The issue is I have the notches on the gears lined up, the TDC marks on the gears are way off on the intake side and minor off on the exhaust side. I am at a loss as to what to do to get this step perfectly correct.

Here is a picture, little fuzzy, of my gears lined up and how they sit.

 

I used tie straps to hold the belt on the gear exactly where i need it to be and then release the tension.

 

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This is a fresh build with new cams shafts and using my HKS gears, now I can't get the gears to TDC.. I'm trying to put the cams in, not switch the timing belt or any maintenance really

 

Try swapping the gears. I think evo gears are intake and exhaust specific. Why aren't you using a wheel?

 

I have not seen a wheel in use anywhere when doing these, any info on how or when to use one?

 

A degree wheel? S3's are a pretty aggresive profile. Something I would not want to risk to trial and error playing with gears.

 

Just never seen a degree wheel used, I will definitely look into it! I am far from locking things into place so I can still get this corrected. Thanks for the heads up!!

 

Be advised that these particular cam gears are advertised to be compatible with both EVOs and DSMs. The problem with this is, cam gears cannot be interchanged between these two engines unless they have different timing accommodations for each. This is because EVOs and DSMs DO NOT SHARE THE SAME CAM TIMING POSITIONS!

Some cam gears have two different dowel holes in the gear, one for the EVO and one for the DSM. These HKS gears have only one dowel position, which means that somehow, some way, they must provide for timing each engine via the marks.

Typically, timing the EVO requires that both marks on the gear atop the Advance/Retard scale align with the factory marks in the 12 o'clock position on the backing plate. Instead, you are using the marks at the 90 degree position, which may be for a DSM, which would explain why it isn't working, but we shouldn't guess what HKS is doing.

I strongly urge you to contact HKS USA and have them email you the instructions that came with your gears (assuming you don't have them) and read them carefully, which will almost certainly explain to you in no uncertain terms what HKS intends for you to do.

 

Awesome information Ted, that makes a lot of sense. I had these HKS cam gears with my last setup and ran them with HKS 272 (Intake & Exhaust) and English Racing installed both, English never moved the gear settings at all, so now with the GSC cams everything is off... I have been told that the notches, not the TDC markings, in the gears do not need to be matched up in the center but the TDC need to be matched primarily with the valve cover.

I did get a degree sheet as well to make sure I am more precise when timing everything as well

 

This comment isn't making sense to me, so let's be sure it's clear how this works. You will install the GSC cams exactly as the HKS cams were installed previously - with the advance/retard gear settings at '0'. I'm not sure why you say with the GSC cams this makes 'everything off'. It does not.


If you are referring to the cam card with cam timing specs, that simply tells you the cam timing when the gear settings are at '0', which is what I recommend with this cam set.

 

No, that really did not make sense now that I read it back to myself...

Do I just focus on matching up the TDC marks only, or do I have to have the notches in the cam gears lined up as well?

 

Call HKS USA and ask them to email you the instructions. This will take maybe 5 minutes of your time and will resolve all questions. Don't guess. It's not worth doing it wrong, not even once.

 

Will do, Thank you for all the information!

 

just simply lay an oem evo 8 cam gear over the hks unit & see that the teeth, tdc mark & bolt hole with pin hole are lined up.

years back someone brought me fidenza cam gears & cams to install. I found that the evo marked hole was stamped in the wrong position!

 

Really? thats interesting, I can't believe how off these gears can be, but I just ordered a set of oem cam gears so I will do that!