Doing the timming belt, Need some help?

[steeves_ca18det]

Ok so as the title says im doing the belt but i have a question, i know im supposed to connect the dots. But im always beeing told about making sure that i find out if there is a compression stroke. I thought that it was pretty straight forward make sure the dots line up on the block, pully and belt. Is it harder then that? Thanks for the help.

[themadscientist]

nope, it's actually that simple. the thing that determines which piston at TDC is on the poer stroke is the cam because the crank angle sensor is driven off the exhuast cam and there is only one way to go where the dots line up.If it will make you feel like more of a jedi master you could do it in the dark and "feel the dots"

[redamnavit]

Once you have it on there count the belt teeth just to be sure. I had all the points lined up and the timing belt marks in the correct places but after I rotated the engine a few times I noticed the marks were exactly one tooth off on each gear. I have no idea what the hell happenned. Maybe the belt was loose on the exhaust->crank side and skipped a tooth when I rotated it? Maybe its ok and I'm just being paranoid but I'm going to recheck it all before the car gets started.

[themadscientist]

I know a few toothcounters, I never have. I pull the gear clockwise a little to engage the teeth and then let the ramp on the cam pull the belt tight, works every time, All slack should be on the tensioner side. It can't hurt to count though, Red how many teeth should there be from crank dot to gear dot?