Joe944

Well I'm finally finishing up this thing and right now I just need to put in the waterpump (just trashed my gasket so i need to pick one up tomorrow at Kohlweiss) and put in the timing belt rollers and all that good stuff. My major concern though is whether or not the timing belt is going to be set properly.

The cam housing has moved I think since I took it out, how do I figure out what the correct position is? Also the flywheel has moved but I can just use the view tabs that say OT to set this right? ( i know i shouldve used a flywheel lock but i screwed up, I never removed the crank pulley though, but it did move a little. Haha I guess I'm gonna end up workin on this thing all day on my bday but I just wanna get this thing done !! It's been like 2 years since my poor 944's been running.

Anyways I'd appreciate it if ya can help me out with this and ease my worrying a little, thanks

SoCal Driver

There is a point just after TDC where all the pistons are just below the top of the bore sufficiently to let you turn the cam opening an closing the valves.

This off the top position is true at several points in the rotation of the engine.

By juggling this around with moving the cam you can get it back on TDC or OT as it is marked.

Don't use the starter!

Charlotte944

I hate to say this, but the safest thing to do is to pull the cam tower before you do anything else.

Once the cam tower is off you can set #1 to TDC, set the cam to TDC, and then bolt the cam tower back on.

Joe944

oh the cam towers already off, everythings torn down atm. i just finished putting in new heads studs and i had the head redone cause of 4 bent valves.

SoCal Driver

You can waste two hours and a gasket set.

I won't.

Joe Jackson

Don't worry about the stuff moving. You can easily set the cam back to TDC by installing the cam gear and aligning the mark on the sprocket with the mark on the cam gear housing (tighten the bolt with hex piece in place and use the hex to turn the cam, don't just put the hex piece on with no bolt). If you feel ANY resistance, stop. Resistance means the valves are touching the pistons. Assuming both the crank and cam barely turned, just turning them back should be easy though. If you can't clearly see the OT mark on the flywheel, there is sometimes another mark that lines up with a notch on the bellhousing near the oil pan. You need to get underneath the car to see it though. I always use this mark unless it's not present (only happened once). Realign your marks and you are set.

With the crank at or near TDC, the only way you'll get resistance is from the cam moving too (once at TDC, it can only move the pistons away from the opening valves).

Joe944

Sounds good, i'm looking forward to getting it running