Timing chain problem need to get back to TDC

[thrusday]

Okay.. So I found the problem with my car, but I 'might' have forgotton to set it to TDC when I ripped the head off..... and..... I'm about to s*it a brick... I have the 2.4 SOHC..

I don't know if there's any mating marks on the timing sprockets yet because I haven't ripped the front end of the engine off yet... Soooo.. Ya, laugh for a second and then...

HELP!!!

Does anyone know how to set the engine and the cams sepratley? I was so convinced that I needed a new engine that I just started taking this one apart and didn't think to set it to TDC.. But to much abliss... the engine is fine.. It was just a busted head gasket. So now I need to put this engine back together again..

This is what she looks like right now.. Obviously it's not TDC.. Exhibit "A" Pistons..






Modified by thrusday at 1:24 PM 5/21/2007

[480sx]

Its not really a problem dude, resetting timing on a Ka is a cakewalk. Take a 27 mm socket and turn your crank until the timing marks match 0 degrees. I think there are 6 marks on the crank pulley. 0 degrees is the second mark from the left. Set the aligning pin to that mark and your at TCD. Then from that, follow the timing marks on the chain for your cams. Yellow mark at the bottom on the idler pulley(there is a little indent there, and the two silver, or darker colored links on your upper timing chain to the two marks on your cam sprockets. If you need anymore help, PM me and ill walk you through it.

[thrusday]

It's all put back together now.. Thanks for the advice.. It helped out a LOT! We recorded the first startup after it was put all back together. All that's left is putting the exhaust back on..



Now that it's working properly, it's time to remove some stock parts and hop this baby up!

[480sx]

Cool man glad i could help, just remeber next time its a bit easier to set TDC befor you take everything apart.

[thrusday]

Alright. I thought I had it down.. But when I start her up, the highest she runs at idle is 1,000 rpms, and I have it set to idle a LOT higher than that, (around 13 to 1,500). I have the chain in the right spot, the distributor at the right spot, but I never messed with the oil pump. I have the head and engine set at perfect tdc, but I never messed with the oil pump.. Could that be why she's idling so low? When I run her up to about 5 grand, she starts sputtering and spatting and refuses to go any higher.. I'm at a loss. I've been working on this engine for about a month straight now, mind you with no garage. When it rains I put a tarp up over the hood and work through the storms. I come home from working on cars all day and get right back under the hood of my car until 2 am. That's how dedicated I am to getting this car up and going.. It's just frustrating, my 300 hasn't given me nearly as many problems.. Any ideas, advice? I'm out of new ideas on this.. I've been browsing through the threads on here and really can't find an exact answer.. I know I'm missing something, but I can't figure out what it is..

I'M SO CLOSE!!!

[180fan]

you'll need to adjust the timing a bit more when you get the motor fired up. Do you have a timing light?

Sounds like it's almost there. Warm up the engine, turn it off. Then onto the pulling the tps and then fire up the engine again. Adjust the idle speed to where it's fairly stable, now start adjusting the timing. The number you're shooting for is under the hood with a number like "15+-2BTDC." I always forget with the sohc's and the dohcs the exact number but it's on the underside of the hood. From there when you get it on that timing mark it should be at, then adjust the idle speed down to ~800 rpm and go over the timing just to double check that it's where it needs to be.

The low idle is probably not related to the oil pump. It's got a gear that will be driven as the motor turns and has a key to ensure that it will line up with the distributor properly as well. If the distributor looks to be ballpark, then you're ok.

[thrusday]

It works now! That was the ONE thing we didn't do. There's some more tinkering that needs to be done, but after that it should be perfect. Thanks a lot. I never would have thought to check the TPS.


Modified by thrusday at 9:14 PM 5/29/2007

[240sxmech]

you must be kidding right. you say you work on cars but then you say you want to set it at 0 degrees, so that its at perfect tdc. Hey bud you are lost in the sauce. Please just stop and take it to someone and have them set your IGNITION timing at 15 degrees before you screw something up and please change jobs.

tdc is called top dead center ,it is a referance for your pistons and your cam,which you did when you put the head and timing chain back on your car, degrees is the referance for your ignition, which is why you adjust your distributor to get the correct ignition timing. Set your timing at 0 and i could push a grocery cart faster than you could drive your car. Got it?

[thrusday]

You know what... I get up at 6 am every morning, I get home at 5 every night and I work on this car until 1 sometimes 2 am. I get here on NICO for.. help.. Not criticisim. I get enough of it from my car. By the way.. I'm MECP certified. I install audio/video/gps/alarms.. etc... I'm NOT a mechanic by day, but quite literally I am one by night.. When I was referring to TDC I WAS referring to the engine. I didn't have it set at TDC when I took it apart so now I'm having LOTS of fun trying to get the timing set just right. I would like to get it as perfect as possible along with the most amount of power I can get out of it by doing the timing.. Any suggestions? I heard 11 degrees was the best. "180fan" Again Thank you for the advice. It really helped.

[180fan]

Awesome. Glad that helped get you back on the road.

[jaytv1019]

I don't know if you are still having minor issues but if you are....

Your pic in the first post I noticed that you did not support your timing chain, it is just laying there. I would be willing to bet you that you skipped a tooth on the crank gear. I just got finished putting my SR motor (I know you have a KA) and if I didn't have the chain taunt (spell??) enough or just let it hang like you have it, it would fall off the crank gear. When you go to pull it up, it will lock into place, but who knows where?

I don't know if my explaination is understandable, sometimes I ramble on but.....

That's what I think happened

Later,

Jason

[180fan]

Well it's a sohc, the front cover isn't a pita to pull off and set like the dohc's are. lol

[thrusday]

well im no on the road yet i am still having some proplems.

i took it for a test drive and at 5000 rpms it burped and thin it shifted (auto trans) and today i retimed it and it ran perfect but now it idles at 800 rpms and it shakes. do i need to put some video on here? help me

[Bwana]

Here's an article that I did a few months back on sohc timing chain replacement. It may not be all applicable, but it has pretty clear instructions for setting your timing. Maybe that'll help you out. It sounds to me like you're probably a tooth or so off on your initial timing.

[thrusday]

ok what the F**K is going on my head gasket blew AGAIN why dos it keep doing that?

[thrusday]

im thinking about a sr20det or a new engen

[mrzabala]

Or go with a CA/RB engine so you dont have to worry about messing with any chains.

Btw.. I was going to mention that the sputtering and such could be a vacuum leak. But since you blew your head, Im assuming your revving too high, too early. Well, Im just assuming since you started the car without priming it (taking off the distributer plug and cranking it for a set of times).

[thrusday]

Revving too high?How long do you have to wait for the gasket to seal before revving in high rpms? The gasket has been in there for about 2 weeks now.. I did a rev test each time I adjusted the timing to figure out wether the chain was positioned correctly. I was revving it up to 4 or 5 grand and when I took it out to test it I got up to redline to test the timing..

So, I guess I messed up

[thrusday]

ok thanks for all your help guys!!!!!!!!!! but i think im going to put a 350 small block in it . i will be starting a new post soon.

[240sxmech]

you gonna redline that motor also to TEST THE TIMING... i have never laughed so hard in my life....are you eating those magic mushrooms before you get on here and type or what?

[240sxmech]

i also see you went back and modified one of your responses about setting it at 0 degrees for perfect timing so other people couldnt see that you didnt have a clue about what you are trying to do and didnt want to get flamed but its okay

[metalkaoken]

stfu

[240sxmech]

you missed a very important step in your process of timing your engine. You forgot to rotate the air in your tires and you need to top off your blinker fluid then you should be good to go .

[metalkaoken]

^



Shut the **** up dude.

[240sxmech]

i dont remember anybody asking you to say much of anything there metalgearsolid.

[bone_stock_240]

The inernet is a worse place because of people like you. So what, the guy does not know as much as you do. He is on here to learn and get help. You are just on here to be a stupid d!ck. Sit down, take a chill pill, get the gerbil out of your a$$ and then play in traffic.

[thrusday]

I came on here to get some help from other Nissan enthusiasts.. Well to hell with that s*it. So much for NICO being the place to come when you have issues regarding your car.. I'm a 24 year old female that loves cars (none of you probabally knew that I was a chic), This is the first time I've had a 240, up till now I've just had my 300, and the first time I've done massive engine work to a car, and I'm loving the fact that I'm doing this myself because with every repair I do, the more I learn. No I won't take it to a shop. No I won't give it up just because I fu**ed up.. Thge beauty of car problems is that they can always be fixed.. I'd rather spend 6 months getting this car up to it's prime than to have someone else do it for me.. For the record...I didn't blow the head gasket again. I was getting low compression again because the exhaust valves needed to be replaced, probabaly cause I was screwing up too much on the timing. 2 teeth to the right, 1 to the left etc.. I must have really gone too far off track at one point. But now the valves have been replaced, I know how to time it CORRECTLY, thanks to considerate people on here.. But again, thanks to all of you who aren't f**king peices of s**t and love belittling others who aren't as mechanically inclined as they are..That's the reason I came on NICO, to get help from people and I appreciate the help you offered.

[mrzabala]

Revving too high?How long do you have to wait for the gasket to seal before revving in high rpms? The gasket has been in there for about 2 weeks now.. I did a rev test each time I adjusted the timing to figure out wether the chain was positioned correctly. I was revving it up to 4 or 5 grand and when I took it out to test it I got up to redline to test the timing..

So, I guess I messed up

What I mean by reving too high, too early, is you have to prime, warm up, and have your engine break in before you do any rev tests, reving past 3.5k for a good amount of time, checking for leaks, loose wires, etc. Thats what I mean by that so I hope you double check and let us know if you have any more questions, problems.. I hope the better bunch come in here and help you as needed.

I dont know why you get pissed at Nico when a couple of nerds go at it. Stick with the better of the bunch on Nico, and you will love your car more and more.

[240sxmech]

the thing is the op got advice for how to do it before i came in here .said his or her thanx to the one who advized them ,said yea its done then instead of listening further about where to set timing ,started blabbering about running the car at 0 degress for perfect timing. When they were told optimal is 15 they still wanted to run at 0 so when i came in here and said what i said and informed them more about tdc and ignition timing they went back and edited there post so they wouldnt look stupid for not listening to someone giving them advice. SO IF YOUR NOT GONNA LISTEN THEN DONT ASK . I dont know about you but i hate it when people dont listen to the advice given to them we take our time out of the day to help people and when they dont listen your gonna get screwed with. then you have the ones who come in here, dont read the post and want to call people names . read before you post you so you wont make an *** of yourself

[bone_stock_240]

I actually had a similar problem when I pulled out my distributor. I neglected to set the motor to TDC before hand, and realized how stupid I was half way through. I stuck a straight piece of metal through the spark plug hole and rotated the crank until it was at the top of it's stroke. Somehow I managed to get it all back together and still manage to be right on with my timing. Crisis averted.