accurate cam timing ?

[tay]

Does anyone know of another way of ensuring that the timing on a GTE is bang on what it should be without using the notches on the cam cover ?

cheers

[adam-s]

Put a paint mark on the engine and the relevant tooth for the pulleys but you should be able to tell when you put the covers back on neway unless you havn't got them

[Dicko]

make sure u check the bottom mark is accurate by putting a wooden cane or similar into cylinder 1 (remove spark plug 1st) and making sure its at its highest point when the bottom marks line up. the engine has a 10 degree dwell period where the piston shud not move, you want the mark to be in the middle of this dwell period (iv never found an engine that has been spot on ever!!

next you wanna set the cam timing. if youv not got a vernier pulley then if you can set it spot on make sure you set it advanced rather than retarded

[tay]

ok will do cheers mate

[Stuart]

if you dont have a vernier pulley you can "adjust" a std pulley by filling the lock pin hole, just make sure when you have the timing you want that the bolt is done up V tight so it cant move

ford zetec engines (well newer ones being sigmas but hey) have no lock pin at all lmao, i think they are setup on blind faith

[CP]

If you have a performance cam and Vernier pulley you should set the cam to the manufacturers spec which they send out with the cam. If not ask for it.
To do this you will need:
1. Crank protractor ( large round disc accurately marked off in degrees) bolted to the crank pulley ( remove the alternator pulley first)so that you can accurately determine the crank position.
2 A dial gauge so you can accurately tell when a valve is being opened or at max lift or wotever.
3. Drivers side wheel off the ground and the wheel removed - all plugs removed
4. A long breaker bar or similar to turn the hub with the car in 4th gear so it turns the engine over.
5. A good light to see the protractor
6. Pen and paper and lots of patience.

Take all plugs out
Get TDC on NO.1 cyl ( nearest the cam sprocket) using a piece of stout wire touching the piston down thru the plug hole & connected to the dial gauge.
Calculate the centre of the dwell angle and set the protractor to TDC against a mark or pointer off the block and tighten in place.
Take the rocker cover off and set the dial gauge up so that you can read off movement on one of the valves for no.1 cyl at the top of the valve stem where the follower presses down on it. You will prolly be best making up a mild steel plate about 5-8mm thick and bolting it down somewhere for the dial gauge to sit on. The dial gauge will have a magnetic base :wink:
Consult the manufacturers info and decide whats easiest to measure i.e when valve starts to open or max lift. It doesnt matter what it is so long as you can get good readings. All this is listed for you in degrees and there is a plenty of info to help you.
Then start turning the engine round clockwise until you reach the critical time you are hoping to record
Do a dry run so that you get a ball pack reading off the dial guage - this can be quite fiddly to set up. You can back up and do a re-run. Try to turn as smoothly as possible - the longer the breaker bar the easier it is
Once you are confident you are "in the zone" you can then start taking readings off the protractor against the marker on the block. Take a series of readings - ignore any dodgy ones and average the rest.
Then undo the vernier and adjust, tighten and repeat the measuring process til you are happy that the protractor readings are pretty much the same to the manufacturers ones given.

note always take a reading with the engine going in the direction of normal rotation (clockwise)
Mark with scratch mark etc accurately where you have set your instruments for future accurate repeatability.

cheers
CP

[tay]

cheers CP mate, I haven't got the spec of the cam but i'll have a word with piper and see if they'll sort me out. where would i get the dial gauge etc from - somewhere like halfords ? Its not expensive is it ?