I can't find an answer so i'm gona get technical here.

[tiger]

OK.

Here's the story. Me and my friend rebuilt a KA24DE and got it in the car. He had to go home so I was left to connect all the little stuff.. timing and all that. That is where I ran into problems. I installed the distributor ...did everything the way I was supposed to do and when I cranked it... it was like a loud spinning noise..I could hear little poot poot poot out of the tailpipe... good... I have compression. I'm getting fuel...not sure about spark cause I had no one around to watch the sparkplug while I tried to start it. So I try about 4 or 5 times to get the distributor in there right but I still didn't hear the motor turn over good... (the motor was turning but it didn't sound normal) I took the valve cover off and lined it up TDC again.... I noticed that the lobes on the intake and exhaust cam weren't facing perfectly outward like they are supposed to be on the compression stroke. I now start taking things apart so I can re adjust my cams. In the middle of doing all that ...some severe weather came my way and I had to stop. What I want to know is..Does the compression/exhaust stroke exist when I don't have the cams in... does it matter? The cam position determines it, right? Of course as long as I put it in place with the #1 piston TDC. I put the cams in and they sit right into place with the lobes facing outward like they are supposed to be. I didn't have time to get the sprockets on though. Any advice would be appreciated.

[NISTECH]

make sure the crank is on TDC. Then lay your cams in so they are at TDC. Then stab your distributor so it points to number 1 plug wire on the cap. DO NOT rotate the cranks or cam with the chain off or you will bend valves. once you have that all set up you should be able to start it.

[rn240sx]

Quote » Does the compression/exhaust stroke exist when I don't have the cams in... does it matter? The cam position determines it, right? Of course as long as I put it in place with the #1 piston TDC. I put the cams in and they sit right into place with the lobes facing outward like they are supposed to be. I didn't have time to get the sprockets on though. Any advice would be appreciated.[/quote]That is correct, without the cams in there is no compression / exhaust stroke per say. Its only a compression / ex stroke when the cams are in and postioned correctly. As long as # 1 piston is at the VERY tip top, then u install the cams as if they were at TDC ( # 1 lobes aiming away from each other )Then u would install the distributor to where the next fire will be # 3 simply cause ur at the compression stroke of # 1 which means that it should have already fired and the next one to fire is # 3

[tiger]

thanks nistech and RN240. I'm going to spend tomorrow getting the timing right. I was trying to get the cam gears on but it's really tricky.. i'm going to search for tips on getting the cam gears in... if you guys happen to read this and know of any, please let me know... hehe.. i'm strugglin.

[NISTECH]

http://www.240sx.org should have a write up on it in the FAQ. I think. It might be in our articles section on this site. Try both I know its in one of them.

[tiger]

I was also wondering... my computer gave me code 11, which is CAS... I followed the JWT install guide for cams and I got it perfect... I installed the distributor and my car runs so horrible and I can't even rev it.. there was one position that we tried the dist in and when i started the car... it revved all the way up to 4k and then shut off... (that was before we put the cams in correctly) I'm going to go clear the codes and see if the CAS comes up again. Does this sound like I have a Bad cas, or something else?

[InsanityInc]

make sure the crank is on TDC. Then lay your cams in so they are at TDC. Then stab your distributor so it points to number 1 plug wire on the cap. DO NOT rotate the cranks or cam with the chain off or you will bend valves. once you have that all set up you should be able to start it.

You should rotate the crank to 20BTDC on compression before putting the dist at the #1 wire, or else you'll have set your timing to 0BTDC, and it probably won't start anyway.

[NISTECH]

yea it will. Then you adjust it after it warms up.

[InsanityInc]

But the distributor doesn't have 20 degrees of adjustment in one direction, so you're going to have to R&R it again afterwards.

[NISTECH]

When setting up the engine you place everything on TDC #1 [crank,cam and dist] The car will start in that position as long as all other fuel and air controls are properly functioning. The distributor has an adjustable range from around 5 degrees ATDC to about 30 degrees BTDC. If you cant get that then the shaft is stabbed to far retarded. When you stab it you can put the housing about any where therefore you need to be attentive as to how you have the housings adjustment slot when you are stabbing the shaft.

[Side note] If you still have my email address contact me I have a question for ya if you still have that extra KA de block laying around.

[tiger]

Hey I don't have your email... I have an extra KA block laying around.. as well as a crankshaft. I used a 98 crank and block.