Sorry about this, but I just have to ask

[Hrududu]

Okay, so I've been in the process of changing my headgasket and I have it all done except the put back together part. Now I have hit a brick wall. After I had the head surfaced, they had to remove the Cam and it's not back the same it was when I dropped it off. What do I need to do to reset the timing on here before I put it all back together. If you need to know anything, I can let you know anything necessary to get this running. I have never worked on cars before this summer, so I honestly have no clue what I'm doing aside from what I have read on this site and others like it.

[Curtis240Z]

Hopefully you marked the timing chain and cam sprocket and noted which hole the sprocket is inserted into the cam (1, 2 or 3) when you took it off so all you have to do is rotate the cam until the sprocket lines up the same as you took it off.

If you didn't note which hole the cam sprocket was in and you are the original owner and never serviced the head before then you can assume it will in the #1 hole. As for the sprocket and chain lineup if you didn't mark it you are in trouble.

Hoping for the best.

Curtis

[Pir0San]

did you wedge the tensioner in the front cover before you took the head off to change the head gasket? I consider myself a veteran when it comes to dismantling my Z motor (I tore my head off 7 times at least before I figured out why the car was leaking water into the 4th cylinder, Kragen now stocks felpro head gaskets for my Z now) and I've dropped the chain before, which sucks, because the front cover has to come off too. Not too bad, but more stuff you have to take off (front cover itself, fan, fan clutch, crankshaft pulley, then the oil pan needs to be dropped). You will also have to buy a timing cover set ($12.99 at Kragen's, comes with gaskets and front crankshaft oil seal), as well as a oil pan gasket ($8.99 at Kragen's). People make it out to be a horrible thing to drop the oil pan, it's not so bad, I'd recommend a drill and socket adaptor to take the bolts out and to put them back in. To get the oil pan off, loosen all bolts, then wedge a putty knife between the oil pan and the block (don't worry if you kill the gasket, you'll replace it anyway) and slide it all the way around the edge of the block until the oil pan drops. Don't use a thick screwdriver, it might warp the pan. Also, don't push the knife too far past the lip of the oil pan, you will run the risk of hitting your rod ends or even your crankshaft, which isn't a good thing. When the oil pan is loose, push it forward a little bit until it contacts the crossmember, then pull the rear down a little bit until it clears the dust shield between the block and the transmission, and slide the oil pan out backwards. Scrape all faces where gasket might go, and put everything back together.

If you didn't drop the chain, then everything will be fine, you can tell if you sprung the tensioner by pulling the oil pump and looking up at the tensioner with a good flashlight. The sprocket should be put on the 1 hole, unless the chain has slack. If the chain doesn't reach all of the way up, or doesn't sit right, or it looks like it shrunk, you know you also sprung the tensioner.

Good luck!

[sblake01]

That's all good except I would use a Nissan or HKS head gasket istead of a Failprone (Felpro). Had a couple of bad experiences with Felpro head gaskets when I had my 510 and my 521 and personally I'd never use one again on a Datun/Nissan. JMO

[Ed]

Read your shop manual a couple of times and go through the assembly process in your head. Setting your timing, reinstalling your cam, assembling the head and setting your sprockets and chain are all covered.

How much was removed from the head? If more than .30 was removed from the original surface you will need to shim the cam towers.

[Pir0San]

oh! I forgot to ask...when you took the head off, did you set the motor to #1 tdc? If not, you've got a whole mess of problems ahead of you.

[Hrududu]

oh! I forgot to ask...when you took the head off, did you set the motor to #1 tdc? If not, you've got a whole mess of problems ahead of you.

Not sure what that means.

Anyways, I did keep the chain tight and never let it slip off. I did know that much.

[Ed]

Not sure what that means.

Anyways, I did keep the chain tight and never let it slip off. I did know that much.

I'm not trying to be a pain here but if you don't know what TDC means then you have no buisness working on an engine.

$.02

GO READ YOUR MANUAL

[montoya_fan01]

eat all of your vegetables.............clean your room...........wash your ears

[sblake01]

How did you 'keep the chain tight'? Unless you wedged it you sprung the tensioner and will have to remove the front cover etc. to correct this. Just keeping the chain pulled up tight doesn't cut it. Ed's reasoning just might be pretty sound in this case. Not trying to cast any dispersions on you, Hrududu, but these things should be known before you remove the head. But it is one of those mistakes you only make once. I wish someone would have warned me before I first pulled the head off an L engine!

[Pir0San]

tdc means top dead center, where the #1 piston is at the top of its compression stroke. I usually find this by taking the valve cover off, and rocking the car in gear or using my hand held remote ignition to turn the motor over, until the valves for the 1st piston are fully closed (cam lobes will be at about the 10 and 2 position) and I also make sure that the bright link in the chain is on the #1 mark on the timing chain sprocket, and that the notch in the sprocket is just slightly to the right of the dash on the timing chain locating plate. This might not make sense now, but I'd honestly go down to your local auto parts store and purchase a Haynes manual. I went from having very little to no knowledge about the inner workings of an engine, but I am good with machinery, and after reading my haynes manual I found myself being able to tear my Z apart with little fuss.

Good luck finding out what all you have to do, but you're going to have a hell of a time (no offense) getting the valve timing set right if you don't tear the front cover off and take the oil pan down. If you want to do it right, buy a haynes manual, and start from scratch. If you have any other questions, I'm watching this thread, so I'll help you out.

[Pir0San]

Not sure what that means.

Anyways, I did keep the chain tight and never let it slip off. I did know that much.

I found a way to wedge the tensioner and timing chain to prevent the tensioner from springing, and that was to find a screwdriver that had a hard plastic handle that was just the perfect dimensions to slide down into the front cover of the motor, and it would hold the tensioner in place. I had this work once for me, and I tried it again a week later, and it worked until I pulled on the chain to make sure the tensioner wasn't sprung. When I pulled on the chain, the screwdriver slid to the side, and my tensioner sprung from it's base. I felt like an idiot after that, but needless to say, I make sure I double check my work now. :laugh: