Cam timing off

[James_M20]

Recently began a headgasket change that turned into a full head refresh. When I removed the cylinder head tdc was "retarded" one (belt pully notch one behind mark on head) the crank was perfectly at tdc. I decided with a buddy of mine it's better to put it back that way we found in then to try and reset it. Should we have reset the cam at tdc? Car has been running and seems to idle ok but someone told me the timing sounds off.

[James_M20]

Sorry the pictures sideways (can't do anything right)

[nando]

you should have reset it. 1 tooth is like 6 degrees off. you will either be down on power or down on torque, plus pushing it close to the edge of pistons & valves hitting.

moving the cam 1 tooth with the belt disconnected won't hurt anything.

[James_M20]

I just went wirh the attitude put it back together the way you found it

[noid]

Two wrongs don't make a right. The timing should be set properly.

[itsonlygeorge]

Fix it. Mine was like that, off one tooth retarded, and it ran so much better after I adjusted it back to TDC.

[Exodus_2pt0]

You really need to fix that. It isn't something you just take care of next time around.

But hey, your car.

[StereoInstaller1]

Did you use the instructions for cam timing as shown in the Bentley?

The Bentley is wrong

[cWalk3r]

It's simple to fix. Why not get it done. It took me a couple times to get my timing right. Every time it would move and didn't realize there was a mark on the block for the crank haha so after getting the cover back on I had to take it off and make sure everything stayed in place.

[James_M20]

Fix it. Mine was like that, off one tooth retarded, and it ran so much better after I adjusted it back to TDC.

I am going to fix this immediately thank you all for the advice. Good to know George hopefully my situation will be the same

[Dj Buttchug]

you should have reset it. 1 tooth is like 6 degrees off. you will either be down on power or down on torque, plus pushing it close to the edge of pistons & valves hitting.

moving the cam 1 tooth with the belt disconnected won't hurt anything.

[nando]

since the belt is new you don't need to replace it, assuming the tensioner/spring is also present and in good/new condition.

[Cephas]

Did you use the instructions for cam timing as shown in the Bentley?

The Bentley is wrong

Can you please explain how? I'm going to be doing this job in a few weeks and was going to use the Bentley as my guide. What is wrong about their steps?

Thanks!

[turbo55]

Do you have an aftermarket tuned chips plugged in? I hear that with some of them you may want to have the timing off intentionally.

[ForcedFirebird]

Do you have an aftermarket tuned chips plugged in? I hear that with some of them you may want to have the timing off intentionally.

No you don't.