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cams not lined up

S

SVT#4967

CEG'er
Joined
Sep 12, 2007
Messages
322
Location
Michigan
not sure if this is the wrong place for this or not but...

so I am working on removing the heads to replace the head gaskets and some other things. Yesterday morning I removed the timing components. I rotated the engine to get the crankshaft key to the 11 o'clock position and the cams weren't lined up, so I rotated one more revolution. The RFF marks on the RH cams were now lined up but the RFF marks on the LH head were not. So I kept rotating the engine to see if it would line up. Got tired of fighting the compression so I removed the spark plugs to allow the air to escape making it easier to rotate the engine (I didn't get a picture of them yet but the spark plugs look different from head to head). After several rotations I decided that the cams were either installed wrong to start with or when someone did some work on it they re-installed it wrong but the original owner never said anything about work like that ever being done.

Here are some pictures to show what it is I am referring to.

RH


LH


So I went ahead and removed the timing chains, guides, tensioners, cam caps, cams, etc. and figure on installation I will make sure to install the cams in time.

Anyone else ever see this?

What would be some results of the timing being off? I only drove this car for 300 miles after buying it and it felt fine to me but maybe there was something happening that I wasn't aware of.
 
I could never get the darn marks to line up either. You only really need the paint on the chains and sprockets to line up. Once you get them lined up, the engine is timed. Pretty simple really.
 
I don't have an answer, but there is some interesting background.

Yes, it is necessary to turn the crank several times before all the marks line up. You may not have rotated enough yet.

There have been some reports of the factory improperly marking the cams so that it is next to impossible to get them to line up without a degree wheel. This was long enough ago that you may need to search in the old forums or perhaps in the even older contour-l list.

If it was running properly, I would be inclined to leave it alone. If the cams are not properly lined up, it runs very badly. It is not subtle.
 
I'm not to the install yet but did briefly read through the install and the paint marks, we will see how that works out when the time comes.
 
I was turning the crank and checking the marks for about an hour. After every revolution of the crank I would check the timing marks. Every Other revolution would result in the pictures above. So after an hour or rotating the engine I would think I would have rotated it enough.

Well if thats true then thats complete crap! I will do some searching on the old forums but what is the contour-l list? And if you by chance have any links to these reports/threads I would appreciate it. Any tips for the search criteria?

I didn't remove the cams only because I felt they seemed off, I removed them because they have to come out. I've removing the heads to replace the head gaskets as well as replace the valve seals.

I guess if these reports are correct and Ford did mis-mark the RFF marks, it's a good thing I snapped a couple pictures for reference when I reassemble everything.
 
Straight from Demon's web page...

Setting Cam Timing

You cannot go wrong if you line up the colored links on the chain with the marks on the front of the cam sprockets and the mark on the crank sprocket. If you do this, the engine will be correctly timed every time. Don't even pay attention to the arrows on the back of the cam sprockets.
Click to expand...

http://home.kc.rr.com/newshore/Cars/Info/EngSpecs.html Bottom of the page. I've timed 3 duratecs and never had those marks come up right.
 
thanks

ok, so how do I know the pistons are in the correct positions?

Just wondering as I haven't completely read through the install procedure in the manual so I dont recall if it's described in there or not.
 
SVT#4967 said:
thanks

ok, so how do I know the pistons are in the correct positions?

Just wondering as I haven't completely read through the install procedure in the manual so I dont recall if it's described in there or not.
Click to expand...

You can tell judging by the position of the key in the crankshaft :)
 
ok, so just have it at the 11 o'clock position and the No.1 piston at TDC? Pretty much leave it where it's at then.

Thanks, glad I asked about this.
 
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