whats the secret to fitting 16v cams

Discussion in '16-valve' started by altern8, May 31, 2006.

  1. altern8 Forum Junkie

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    how on earth do you get the 2 dots ligned up when fitting standard 16v cams they never go spot on when you tighten them down [:$]

    Cheers
    Craig
     
  2. Deako Paid Member Paid Member

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    They have to be, or you end up with disappointing rolling road figures like me, and the car runs like crap! ;)
     
  3. flusted Forum Member

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    put them in 1 tooth out,then when you tighten them they pull round till they are right.
    If that makes sense?
     
  4. sambo Paid Member Paid Member

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    The way i do it is...

    Set the bottom end to TDC#1(cams out)

    Line up cams to each other within the chain in your hands

    Drop them in loosely into the head making sure dots are still pointing to each other and cams are roghly where they should be

    Oil few bearings and place them over loosely just to keep the cams tense away from each other so that they dont skeep within the chain

    Now i usualy place cambelt over the exhaust cam and tighten the belt slightly

    This keeps the cams from turning or dislocating

    Pop all the bearings(oil them up first) where they should be and tighten them(not fully) in correct sequence

    Ones cams are tightish take the cambelt off and check that cams are indeed placed correctly and adjust them if necesery

    Recheck that botttom end timing than turn it back a bit(so when tightening the belt it doesnt put it out of timing marks)

    Pop the belt on and tighten the bearings

    Check all timing marks and if ok turn the engine over few times by hand

    Recheck all timing marks

    If all is well nip up the bearings to correct torque and away you go:)
     
  5. Hotgolf

    Hotgolf Paid Member Paid Member

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    There's an easy way mucha. Stand the cams upright on the bench with the sprockets at the bottom. Put the chain around them and set them by looking directly down onto them.
    With them set, keep the chain taught and put them in the head. As long as you keep the chain tight they'll stay in the right place. If they twist when you drop them in it'l be ok as they've turned, and not jumped.
    The centre of the dots should be level with the face of the head.
    I've never had to reset a pair doing it this way.
     
    Last edited: Jun 1, 2006
  6. flusted Forum Member

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    think thats how vince did mine
     
  7. KeithMac Forum Junkie

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    I mark mine with a paint pen (and the chain) before taking them out, when you fit a new chain just count the links and mark as appropriate. With it all fastened in it`s imediately obvious if they`re a tooth out. I`ve never had one out of time yet (touch wood!).
     
  8. altern8 Forum Junkie

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    the car seems to drive fine but it sounds very tappety so im going to check the tappets and the cam timing and cams to make sure

    Cheers
    Craig
     
  9. altern8 Forum Junkie

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    cant seem to get it bang on when ever i tighten the inlet cam it goes like this one in deakos pic

    [​IMG]
     
  10. mk1. Forum Junkie

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    set it a tooth out as mentioned,the tappet noise could be the valves just hitting the pistons[:s]
     
  11. AxlFoley Forum Junkie

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    mine sounds exactly the same as Altern8s its bloody annoying!
     
  12. altern8 Forum Junkie

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    when i set it a tooth out it was too high compared to the exh cam i tried the way martin said and i can get the exh cam spot on but then when i tighten the inlet it keeps going past the other one or to high i tried about 4 times tonite toi the same effect :(
     
  13. KeithMac Forum Junkie

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    When you tighten it down have look, then try to visualise it a tooth round and see if that`ll bring it closer to timed up or way off, 1 tooth is a big jump on those cam gears.
     
  14. badger5

    badger5 Club GTI Sponsor and Supporter Trader

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    you can rotate the inlet cam if you remove the right hand most stud, which will allow just enough slack to ease the inlet cam out, move it by one tooth and refit.

    being very careful on the torquing up to be even and not to stress the cam.

    several people I know have ended up snapping their schrick cams by not being very careful and progressive when tightening down the caps (and pushing against the valve springs as they tighten=uneven bending loads on a chill cast cam stick=snap)

    fiddly job I know well.
     
  15. altern8 Forum Junkie

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  16. Hotgolf

    Hotgolf Paid Member Paid Member

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    Your a tooth out, the left cam needs to go down, which will bring the right one up.
    As I said mate, the edge of the head needs to disect the dots/circles in half.
     
  17. GVK

    GVK Paid Member Paid Member

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    That's what I generally end up doing :lol:
     
  18. altern8 Forum Junkie

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    i forgot to ask earlier if the cams rotate oposit ways one up one down?
     
  19. altern8 Forum Junkie

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    how does that work [:$]
     
  20. TheSecondComing Forum Addict

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    Any given gutter, any given day.
    They rotate the same way, but the inner side where the dots are is "one up one down".
     

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