S13 KA24DE Cam Alignment

Post by **240sxOwner** » Sun May 02, 2004 8:29 am

i had someone help me do my timing chain a while back and they turned my crank without the chains hooked up so now my cams are badly out of alignment...I need to know how the cams are aligned when Cylinder 1 is at TDC.....maybe a pic from the manual if there is one.....i need to know ASAP...Please Help my poor 240

sorry for posting on multiple forums but i really need an answer..Thanks

Post by **kaje36** » Sun May 02, 2004 8:29 am

thats got a s13 exhaust cam rotated to work on the intake, its off by 3 pins on the chain, the dot on the gear should be closer to the top.

and there you can see the cam position.... and a few of my goodies

Post by **BadMojo** » Sun May 02, 2004 8:29 am

kaje36 wrote:

thats got a s13 exhaust cam rotated to work on the intake, its off by 3 pins on the chain, the dot on the gear should be closer to the top.

and there you can see the cam position.... and a few of my goodies

Forgive me if I'm wrong, but the key is that the cam lobes are pointing directly away from each other when cylinder #1 is at TDC.

There should really be a sticky with photos, since this keeps coming up. I'd hate to see someone end up with ****ed up valves.

BTW, what kind of header is that? It sure is purty.

Post by **LiU** » Sun May 02, 2004 8:29 am

hey your cams are orange for intake and green for exhaust... same as mine... but every1 told us that green is for intake andorange is for exhaust... an we ended up with bent valves...

Post by **DGA** » Sun May 02, 2004 8:29 am

Here is a step by step how-to on KA24DE cam install by a very reputable source, Jim Wolf.

http://jimwolftechnology.com/w...E.PDF

Post by **E Dogg** » Sun May 02, 2004 8:29 am

i just put my cams in like jim wolfs site.. my concern is going by pics like this its easy to get off by 5-8 degrees one each one, plus i swapped 91 cam into an s14 motor , is that the same too?

Post by **DGA** » Sun May 02, 2004 8:29 am

Yes all 240s are the same. Jim Wolf site is a great tool in doing the whole process. Its the only place that I have seen that gives you the picture of the cam orientation at TDC. The biggest thing still is that you have to line up the colored chain links to the corresponding marks on the cam sprockets, idler gear, and crankshaft.

Post by **E Dogg** » Sun May 02, 2004 8:29 am

i dont have a clored mark, could this be why my car revs fine but misses when accelerating hard ?

Post by **E Dogg** » Sun May 02, 2004 8:29 am

is it possible to have my cams 180 degrees off? i have everything lined up perfectly and im having timing issues...

Post by **DGA** » Sun May 02, 2004 8:29 am

No. Your car would run like shat. Where did you buy your chains from? They all have marks (different colored links) but they can be hard to see sometimes. If it revs fine and idles fine start checking your ignition components, and your fuel delivery.

Post by **kaje36** » Sun May 02, 2004 8:29 am

LiU: I have a s13 exhaust cam as intake and s14 exhast cam as exhaust.. so the colors are a little messed up, and you can tell by the cam condition they are difrent. instead of repining the exhast cam for the intake we rotated the cam gear to compisate

BadMojo: its a SR SSchrome manifold with a KA, and T3 flange on it. Aceinhole was the one who figured out it could be done, and both him and I did this in the same weekend, I like his setup a little better, but mine fits the downpipe alot better. SSchrome just released there KA mani that is the same thing. so its not alot cheaper for thoes peaple wanting a bottem mount turbo on there KA

Oh ya.. FYI thats a s13 head and all the rest is s14

Post by **E Dogg** » Sun May 02, 2004 8:29 am

my fuel is ok and i have spark on all 4 cylndersit was running decent but according to the timing light it was like retarted 40 deg... when i tried to set to stock it wouldnt even start. Other than the running chitty how can i tell if theyre off for sure?i resued my chain b/c it was ok and i had to remove cams only b/c i replaced the head...

Post by **DGA** » Sun May 02, 2004 8:29 am

If its retarded 40 deg. I am surprised that you are running at all. Try setting your timing while the car is running. Its easier this way.

To see if your cams are off you can rotate your engine to #1 cylinder TDC, take off your valve cover and see where the lobes of the intake and exhaust cam are pointing on the #1 cylinder. Both of them should be pointing away from the center of the engine. I will try to dig up some pictures from when I pieced my engine together. I think that I have some good photos of the stripped engine that has its chains and cams in at #1 cylinder TDC.

Post by **DGA** » Sun May 02, 2004 8:29 am

Actually take a look at kaje 36's head. He has the engine set at TDC on #1 cylinder.

Post by **E Dogg** » Sun May 02, 2004 8:29 am

right but everytime i spin the crank the cam spin twice, so every other time i spin it they lobes face out then in right?

Post by **DGA** » Sun May 02, 2004 8:29 am

Um, your cams should turn once for every two crankshaft turns. So if you turn the crankshaft exactly twice you will be where you started out. If both of your #1 cylinder cams are facing in you are on TDC of cylinder #4, and cams on cylinder #4 should be both facing out. Hope that this helps.

Post by **E Dogg** » Sun May 02, 2004 8:29 am

yeah thanks

Post by **E Dogg** » Sun May 02, 2004 8:29 am

is there a precise way to check if mine ar elined up properly my car is still missing at idle and jerkin a bit when i let off gas...

edit: could a bad knock sensor do this?

Post by **Thee 240sx Owner** » Sun May 02, 2004 8:29 am

Post by **E Dogg** » Sun May 02, 2004 8:29 am

it was the cams... roteated a bit whiel tighing bolts:( got her fixed now though, let the moving vlations commence

Post by **andrave** » Sun May 02, 2004 8:29 am

mother ****er, I put mine in with orange on intake. not right.now I have to redo them.goddamnit.

Post by **98s14inaz** » Sat Sep 18, 2004 4:33 am

LiU wrote:hey your cams are orange for intake and green for exhaust... same as mine... but every1 told us that green is for intake andorange is for exhaust... an we ended up with bent valves...

You are right except the cams are reversed on the s14's so be careful, don't ask how I know.

Post by **klattr1** » Tue Sep 28, 2004 7:56 pm

hey, i wouldnt be too worried about the paint on the cams. the cams really only go in one way with the way they are oriented and how the pins align with chain, etc.i have always had a copy of JWT's instructions beside me for every cam install ive done.

Post by **chandler** » Sun Nov 07, 2004 6:42 am

hey guys, man I feel like an impatient a55 hat, I took the cams out of my spare head, (s13) and now I dont know whice is intake and which is exhaust one has a 5 and the other is a 2 any help would be greatly appreciated.

Post by **chandler** » Sun Nov 07, 2004 6:45 am

one also has blue on it and the other it looks like faded green

Post by **H.D.HUMPERDINK** » Thu Nov 11, 2004 6:41 pm

I have a question: I know that on push rod motors you have to break the cam in, and I was wondering if you have break in cams on our cars?

Post by **chandler** » Fri Dec 17, 2004 6:12 am

what about the fuel milage issues, does it stay the same daily driving or does it go down? maybe up?

Post by **Chezedik** » Sat Jan 29, 2005 10:59 pm

Nissan was nice enough to label your cams, if you look very closely. Check each one, they will have I and E engraved in them. That is how you will know.

Post by **andrave** » Sun Jan 30, 2005 8:23 am

not mine, thats for ****in sure.

Post by **initial_d_s14** » Sat Feb 26, 2005 6:58 pm

chandler wrote:hey guys, man I feel like an impatient a55 hat, I took the cams out of my spare head, (s13) and now I dont know whice is intake and which is exhaust one has a 5 and the other is a 2 any help would be greatly appreciated.

yeah on the S13 cams the intake has a green mark on it and exaust is a orange mark, i think the 2 is exaust, i cant really remember.

oh yeah and since i have installed mine, the gas mileage has went down

S13 KA24DE Cam Alignment

S13 KA24DE Cam Alignment

Re: (LiU)

Re: (chandler)

Nissan Forums

Infiniti Forums

Datsun Forums

Technical Forums

Classifieds / Marketplace

Nissan Motorsports

General Forums