Hi! Any help and opinions are welcome here are two photos one shows my crank timing that seems to be about 12 degrees below tdc, the other is the position of the cam when the cam pulley aligns with the notch in the cam plate. Its my opinion the belt is very stretched . What's yours ! Any help would be welcome, if you want other angles let me know!

Looks like a PO adjusted the sprocket already to position 2 or 3. If you put the timing mark on zero (TDC) (like you're supposed to) the notch will be after the groove. Like "after adjustment" in the FSM. It wouldn't be from chain stretch on position 1 because that would delay the camshaft mark (before adjustment). Make sure also that the tight side of the chain is tight. The left/driver's side.

Another possibility is that your damper is starting to fail and the timng mark has moved. And, that looks like 16 degrees, not 12.

If it was mine I'd remove the #1 plug and try to confirm that the piston is at TDC. Then see where the marks are, and see if you are on position 1, 2, or 3.

You might be able to see the tensioner also to see if it is pushed out. p.s. it's a chain. Good luck.

p.s. 2 it looks like you think that the sprocket is already on #3. Can't tell because you wrote over the actual number!

Anyway, The other first thing I might do is to just set the damper at TDC/zero, remove the sprocket and replace it at a position that looks right. Use a chain holder tool. You can make your own out of wood.

Edited Wednesday at 10:08 PM3 days by Zed Head

What threw me off is when he reffered it to a belt.

Ok I tried to get a better photo and took the advice to set my marker at the crank on zero .this on compression stroke as indicated by the distributor being at no1 cylinder postion . It looks like the window is lined up with cam plate near no. Cam postion , does this mean the Cam has been adjusted to the second postion for chain stretch .?

I've been looking at that Nissan drawing for years and I keep realizing that they put a lot of information in it, but it is still unclear.

In the "Before" picture they show the number 1 on the right side and number 2 on the above left, on the perimeter of the sprocket. In the after picture the 2 is where the 1 used to be and 3 is on the left. But they don't clearly say if the before picture is the 2 position or the 1 position. It would make sense to have the position hole at the top. But they don't say.

Anyway, based on the notch and groove your cam timing is correct and you should be fine. You're about halfway to needing an adjustment. It is odd though that your groove is below the perimeter of the sprocket base in that picture. Also interesting that there is apparently 16 degrees of play in your chain, since the groove did not move at all, but the damper did. Not sure what to make of that.

So, there you go, much discussion but still wondering. Good luck!

I'm going to browse around and see if I can find an original notch and groove picture with numbers. Maybe somebody has one?

Yes that made finding the groove difficult what led me to all this is the constant fowling of plugs, I have done all the continuity tests up to coolant temp switch and sensor ( which i have replaced) and the airflow meter ( which passed its on car continuity test by the fsm procedure. It would start and seemed so far out of time i could not get a reading with my timing light . Aswell the distributor needed to be maxed out at advance to get close to an 800 rpm idle . Any attempt at driving it results in instant heavy plug fowling, dry thick black soot , (massive extra fuel there ? ) the ecu has been replaced as seems to be for a 79 manual ( i am a 77 manual so who knows how that is doing well or not) any opinions are welcome and all the advice so far is greatly appreciated. I have a small towing company in sanford n.c so I would be happy to help any local members in that area if I can. Its a cool car and I hope to get to a reliable state so someone else can enjoy it as much as I have enjoyed these z 's.

Thanks again everyone !

Found one! And just realized that I am obsessed with the notch and groove, I'm in all of the notch and groove threads. Looks like Nissan put the 1 on the right for position 1. So you're on position 1.

https://www.classiczcars.com/forums/topic/49373-is-this-off-too-much/

Thread from which it came.

https://www.classiczcars.com/forums/topic/56868-oe-camshaft-and-cam-gear-markings/

1 minute ago, morgan12 said:

Any attempt at driving it results in instant heavy plug fowling, dry thick black soot , (massive extra fuel there ? ) the ecu has been replaced as seems to be for a 79 manual

Check the vacuum hose to the FPR for fuel. If it's original it's very old and the diaphragm can crack and leak fuel internally. It shoots straight in to the manifold.

Also, your ECU is not likely to be 79 since that would be a ZX and they are wired differently. Unless somebody swapped in a 79 EFI harness also. A 79 ECU will plug in to 75-78 but won't work. I found that all ECU's from 75 through 78 would run my 76 with no problems.

It's also known that bad ECU's often cause rich running. Broken solder joints seem to be the problem. But I'd check that FPR first. Also, have you measured fuel pressure?

Welcome to "getting the old 280Z running right" world.

It’s truly a journey. Been there and it takes awhile