6mil928

By the timing light no. I could have one off a tooth or two and the timing would still look good with the timing light right or wrong?

SeanR

Those cam gears don't look good to me in those pictures. They look really worn.

Lizard928

The crud in there looks old, dont worry about it, just pressurewash it clean.

The gears appear to be on the right way, but way out of orientation.

If you took those pics at TDC that is. On the drivers side (5-8) cam you can see a large indent on the gear between 9 and 10ok position. This indicates the outside of the gear, though this might just be part of a bad quality picture. On the other side of the gear from this indent is a nice little V cut, this should be in line with the notch is the backing plate.

If your drivers side cam skipped any teeth it would throw your timing off and prevent the car from obtaining proper power. It might rev fin, but might not be able to even rev to edline with really low timing advance.

What I would do first it to remove the last cover. Set the engine to TDC, clean everything with some Castrol super Clean and a pressure washer. Then I would go in there and set the cams to their proper location and button it all back up. Once back together I would use a timing light to set the timing to roughly 10 deg BTDC at idle and report back.

HTH

6mil928

Colin that picture if I recall was not at TDC. I too agree that the belt dust is old. I was in the process of cleaning it before I read your post. I'm going to monitor it for more dust build up and put it back together. I changed my 02 sensor and guess what the rich exhaust is gone. I rechecked the timing and I'm going to take it for a ride. One thing is still strange. At idle I have 14 hg vacuum. When i take the rpms up slowly my vacuum rises. If I go to what I think WOT is at the engine quickly vacuum drops off. Is this normal or does this mean a clogged exhaust. Seems like I remember something about this.

Lizard928

Your vacuum readings are normal, but at idle they are low.

Before you button it back up put the engine to TDC ( 0|T ) and verify that all the marks are in line at a minimum.

zoltan944

vacuum is better now, readings are a little weird without load unless you really open it up. I wonder if your bad damper had fuel leaking running rich and it fouled your O2? therefore you had to fix both? Run it around really good and recheck your plugs too. But also check your timing marks before buttoning it back up.

6mil928

Ok guys got rid of the rich mixture. But I may have another problem. Looks like the guy that did the timing belt job made his own marks to time it by. If I align his paint marks and set it to TDC the actual timing V-notch's are off by 1/2-1" from the official timing points. The car has always been a complete dog off the line. Tires won't smoke if it's life depended on it. I'm thinking this may be why the vacuum is low and the low end torque is bad. Sean R also thinks that the driver side cam gear is worn down. Please look at the new pics and tell me what you think. The new pics are at TDC and lined up on smart guys paint marks

6mil928

Also wanted to add this picture.

Lizard928

Both cam gears, and most likely the oil pump gear need to be changed, there is a real lip on the edges which could cut the belt.

And yes the nothces appear to be out of phase completely! This would affect the cars performance for sure.

Please replace the gears, line up the marks with the proper spots and not someone elses marks.

6mil928

Colin that's what I was thinking too.

SeanR

Yup, I agree. Colin, does it look like the wrong belt for those gears also?

6mil928

Sean R wanted me to add these pics as well.

SeanR

Those are no good.

6mil928

How did I know you'd say that?

Lizard928

Agreed that the gears are no good.

The belt is very hard to tell if it is right or not. Some shots it looks proper others it looks like a square tooth belt.

It is possible that is where all the rubber shavings are from............

Best to throw a new Gates belt in there while you are at it. And a porkensioner.