b230 16 valve timing advice

[doleary]

b230block with 16 valve head, im trying to get tdc to put timing belt on. have the cam position lined up with the marks on the valve cover. crank pulley lined up with its timing mark. having trouble with the aux pulley which i believe its timing mark was on the stock b230 timing cover. Any tricks/photos to make this work without sourcing another stock cover? Also super helpful if you have info on yoshi cas adapter as i haven't been able to find too much on it either. thanks in advance for any input.

 

[Harlard]

No tips on idler shaft pulley position as I can just eyeball it and adjust in software. You could use the back of a stock cover and cut it up to use as a template to check against.

THAT MENTIONED, I have two tips for you, as I had a huge amount of trouble when setting up the timing belt in my engine, which resulted in a lot of teeth gnashing, cursing, broken parts, and multiple timing belt changes in a short span of time (to the point that it now takes me like 10 minutes to do the job):

1. When you set your timing marks, make sure to set the TDC of the cam gears to the marks on the valve cover, which are retarded about 7.5 degrees or half a tooth. This is done in purpose to make it possible to slide in the belt. Once you rotate the crank twice, the cam gears will be straight up and offset from the valve cover.

2. If you are using the Yoshifab timing belt kit, do not follow any of the instructions for the VW ALH belt tensioner. Ignore the alignment marks. rotate the adjustment cam counter-clockwise, and only allow it to have enough tension to rotate the timing belt 90 degrees with your fingers. It does not seem like enough, but it will work fine. If you can hear bearing noise like a seal call, it is too tight. Your timing belt will try to ride forward and destroy itself in short order.

 

[dl242gt]

No tips on idler shaft pulley position as I can just eyeball it and adjust in software. You could use the back of a stock cover and cut it up to use as a template to check against.

THAT MENTIONED, I have two tips for you, as I had a huge amount of trouble when setting up the timing belt in my engine, which resulted in a lot of teeth gnashing, cursing, broken parts, and multiple timing belt changes in a short span of time (to the point that it now takes me like 10 minutes to do the job):

1. When you set your timing marks, make sure to set the TDC of the cam gears to the marks on the valve cover, which are retarded about 7.5 degrees or half a tooth. This is done in purpose to make it possible to slide in the belt. Once you rotate the crank twice, the cam gears will be straight up and offset from the valve cover.

2. If you are using the Yoshifab timing belt kit, do not follow any of the instructions for the VW ALH belt tensioner. Ignore the alignment marks. rotate the adjustment cam counter-clockwise, and only allow it to have enough tension to rotate the timing belt 90 degrees with your fingers. It does not seem like enough, but it will work fine. If you can hear bearing noise like a seal call, it is too tight. Your timing belt will try to ride forward and destroy itself in short order.

This^^ That timing adjustment tension with the VW tensioner is very important. Follow Haralds instructions to the letter. I once had a Porsche 924 which I did the timing belt on. It adjusted the same way and I made it much too tight and it made the same sound he refers to. Scared the crap outta me as it was the first timing belt I ever replaced and I thought I killed the car.

 

[doleary]

No tips on idler shaft pulley position as I can just eyeball it and adjust in software. You could use the back of a stock cover and cut it up to use as a template to check against.

THAT MENTIONED, I have two tips for you, as I had a huge amount of trouble when setting up the timing belt in my engine, which resulted in a lot of teeth gnashing, cursing, broken parts, and multiple timing belt changes in a short span of time (to the point that it now takes me like 10 minutes to do the job):

1. When you set your timing marks, make sure to set the TDC of the cam gears to the marks on the valve cover, which are retarded about 7.5 degrees or half a tooth. This is done in purpose to make it possible to slide in the belt. Once you rotate the crank twice, the cam gears will be straight up and offset from the valve cover.

2. If you are using the Yoshifab timing belt kit, do not follow any of the instructions for the VW ALH belt tensioner. Ignore the alignment marks. rotate the adjustment cam counter-clockwise, and only allow it to have enough tension to rotate the timing belt 90 degrees with your fingers. It does not seem like enough, but it will work fine. If you can hear bearing noise like a seal call, it is too tight. Your timing belt will try to ride forward and destroy itself in short order.

Thanks harlard i appreciate the input. im probably going to grab another stock timing cover so i can be sure the auxiliary shaft is in the right spot. while i was hoping there was a way to do it without, better safe than sorry. if you set the aux shaft off a bit is it easy to adjust in ems? im assuming you mean megasquirt. this will be my first time using ms so ill have to read up on it aswell! thanks again.

 

[Harlard]

Thanks harlard i appreciate the input. im probably going to grab another stock timing cover so i can be sure the auxiliary shaft is in the right spot. while i was hoping there was a way to do it without, better safe than sorry. if you set the aux shaft off a bit is it easy to adjust in ems? im assuming you mean megasquirt. this will be my first time using ms so ill have to read up on it aswell! thanks again.

Yeah MS will do it. It’s called ignition offset or something like that. It lives in the same ignition menu where you set static timing to figure out how far your signal is from the actual position of the engine. Really, though, any programmable system will have similar functionality.

So if you have a distributor for instance, you can lock your timing at 10° bdtc and rotate the distributor until the timing light matches the mark. Just make sure the offset is higher than the most ignition advance you ever plan on running (50° or so in my case). If you don’t have a mechanically adjustable system, you just set offset to make the light match the mark.

 

[doleary]

Yeah MS will do it. It’s called ignition offset or something like that. It lives in the same ignition menu where you set static timing to figure out how far your signal is from the actual position of the engine. Really, though, any programmable system will have similar functionality.

So if you have a distributor for instance, you can lock your timing at 10° bdtc and rotate the distributor until the timing light matches the mark. Just make sure the offset is higher than the most ignition advance you ever plan on running (50° or so in my case). If you don’t have a mechanically adjustable system, you just set offset to make the light match the mark.

Thanks man! I have the yoshi cas adapter and 4g63 cas. now that i think about it i dont think the aux pulley position should really matter, as long as i install the cam angle senor where is should be at tdc . have to do a little more reading. thanks for your input again.