how can I find TDC on a pulley without markings??? HELP!!!

[amolao]

the chain on my 240SX DOHC is ratttling, Im taking the front and valve cover to remove the chain guards...but when I tried to align the engine to TDC before taking the distributor....there is no markings on the pulley at all!! Argh!! After close inspection of the pulley with a flashlight, cleaning the pulley with grease cleaner, and still no marks. I dont even have the indentations for each mark....Im confuse. There is no grime or dirt on the pulley hiding the markings. What should I do?? I dont even know how the prior owner set the timing on this car... Should I got to TDC by checking the distributor settings (pointing at cylinder 1)??? and go from there...making sure I put everything back the same way??? After I find TDC maybe I can get another pulley and make new marks on my pulley using an extra one...??

thanks

[s13sr20chris]

pull valve cover and make the cams look like this. thats tdc on the intake stroke(what you want).

[amolao]

great, thanks man!! that was easy... Hey what do you suggest I do in order to find the spot for the marking for the 20 degrees timing mark...other than replacing the pulley with a new one....

[s13sr20chris]

shoot, i guess you will just have to pull the pulley off and copy the marks off of another one.

[amolao]

sorry, but what a rockhead, I found the markings, what I was trying because I didnt had a 27mm socket, my son was cranking the engine momentarily while i try to spot the markings. Everytime they came around, the pulley will sped up making them invisible and never stopping there. sorry,.....But I got in there, the tensioner for my lower chain is shot, what do you suggest?? Replace everything?? I did the chain in my SOHC, but these DOHC look kind of tricky, is there a good tutorial that maybe I can use instead of the FSM??? Thanks for helping this old blind man....

[s13sr20chris]

its a piece of cake. i would suggest a search because i KNOW there is a writeup around here somewhere. if you can do the sohc chain you can do the dohc. if your tensioner is shot i would go ahead and do the guides, chains, tensioners, and o-rings.

[amolao]

Well I ordered the parts and Im on my way to start the surgery on this thing... A couple of questions my friend:

Do I need to remove the oil pan?? and if not what do I need to do to ensure a good RTV seal during reassembly??

Will the upper and lower chain will slide out by taking one of the sprockets out??? I can see where the upper chains gets removed first....but the center sprocket feeds both chains..is kind of in the way ....

Is the cylinder head remove during the process???

thanks

[s13sr20chris]

i think for the dohc you dont have to drop the oil pan.

you dont have to pull the head either.

just yank the radiator, belts, accessorys(they can move out of the way), crank pulley, valve cover, timing cover...

then you do the chain and stuff.

then you put her back together.

for the chain you have to make sure you get it all lined up. its easy. you line up the dots on the sprockets with the shiny links on the chains.