FiveElements

I'm starting a TB/WP and cam gear replace. My 89 car has 150k miles and cam gears are worn. I have this 260 page TB/WP guide but it does not show how to remove the cam gears.

Do you simply loosen the center bolt for the gear while the crank is locked, just before loosening the TB tension bolt? Or are people removing the belt entirely first, then holding the cam gear in place some how and loosening the bolt then?

davek9

Before removing belt place crank at 45 deg before TDC.
Then lock the Flywheel.
Now it's you're choice, you can use a box end wrench to hold the nut/washer and remove the bolt or remove the belt and do the same.
The cams/ gears will rotate a bit once the belt or cam bolt is loosened as the valve springs will move the cams.

FredR

First of all ensure the crank is locked at exactly the 45 BTDC position on cylinder 1 [the rotor points to the 3.00 position both sides. Make sure you mark the tooth adjacent to the notch on the back cover whilst in this position.

To try and keep your current cam timing you can mark the position of the cam wheel relative to the mounts behind it by scratching the backing plate with a pencil. It is not pin pooint accurate but close. You should also purchase Ken's 32VR kit and his PK bump stick. With the latter you can hold the hex washer or do so with an appropriate spanner and undo the nut with a socket.

I removed mine after the belt was removed. The cam sprockets came off easily enough but that may vary depending on when yours were last removed.

Regards

Fred

jcorenman

Here's what the marks look like with the cam gear correctly positioned, with the crank locked at 45-deg. The cam gears are 15 (crank) degrees per tooth, so 45-deg BTDC puts the "notch" three teeth to the left of the v-notch in the back cover.

davek9

OP are you going to use a porken 32ver to adjust (index) the gears to the cams, if you don't the stock alignment notches are a ball park as the gears on a 32v are not keyed, so the gear is not 100% aligned with the cam.
99% that I've seen were off adjustment by at least 1 tooth, and there is no way to tell w/o that tool or w/o pulling the cam covers off and using a dial gauge.

You may want to turn it over by hand and see where the marks currently align before removing the belt and get a feel for the marks referenced above.

FiveElements

Ok... so what I'll do is keep the TB belt on for now, remove all the other covers and take some photos after I put the timing at 45º BTDC. That way I'm confident the engine can be locked. Then get advise from their regarding how to keep the cam timing accurately marked before pulling gears.

Mrmerlin

once the cam pulley outer bolts are removed (they hold the rotors on) then the center bolts are loosened the cam timing will be lost.

NOTE to keep the timing of the cam/pulley relationship simply put 3 small bolts into the rotor securing holes this will keep the spider locked to the pulley and you will keep your original location.


If your going to replace the cam pulley then your going to have to remove the pulley from the spider. thus requiring the timing to be reset
Porken has a good tool to do this.

NOTE inspect the spiders as they have been known to crack on the shaft area

Big Dave

PorKen's tool is the way to go. Here's the old way of setting valve timing:

http://members.rennlist.com/bigdave/tbelt11.html

Avar928

There's no way to preserve cam timing once you pull that gear off. A single millimeter can mean the difference of +/- 1 advance/retard. It's very precise and you need to have the Porken tool to reset.

Mark the timing mark on the original gear to transfer over to the new gear to get approximate.
You have to counter hold the cam washer and then you can loosen cam bolt. You'll need to use a gear puller that can catch onto the back of the gear to pry it off as it'll most likely be stuck onto the shaft.

FiveElements

All is going well. new TB, new cam gears & water pump are on... parts from Roger. Putting engine back together now. Fixing tons of other little problems and leaks. Re-sealing Oil pump. Replacing Power steering loop in the front of the car. (small crack on one line)

Bill Ball came by and helped advise on a few areas to watch for. Thanks Bill.

javiherdepa

What do you mean by the note and the small pins ?, would you have a picture of it?

FredR

The cam sprocket sits over a keyway that permits movement of the sprocket relative to the camshaft when making cam timing adjustments as is required when changing out the sprockets for instance.

Behind the cam sprocket sits what we call "the Spider"- this is a three pronged affair with a drilled and threaded hole in each arm. When the cam bolt is tightened nothing can move relative to the camshaft. Under normal circumstances the three holes in the spider are used to secure the rotor arm and you look carefully you will see that where the small bolts pass through the cam sprocket there is a slotted hole to accommodate movement of the sprocket relative to the cam. These three bolt holes can also be used when adjusting the cam timing. No idea where you picked up the word "pins" from but not in the passage you quoted.

It would help if you can explain what it is you want to achieve then perhaps your query can be addressed with more clarity.

Geza

When I changed my cam sprockets, prior to loosening the sprocket bolts, I spray painted through the 3 slotted holes in the existing sprockets, leaving fairly complete slotted paint marks on the "spider'. I used a few light coats of flat black, and took closeup pictures of each slot. Lining up the new sprockets was a very easy with the painted marks.