Joff

I am finally at the last stages of an engine rebuild (STI V4) but am having problems getting the timing spot on!?

As you look at the engine from the front, the timing marks on the left hand side line up exactly, as does the crank pulley, however the right hand side appears to be half a tooth out!?
I have tried a tooth either way but cannot get them to line exactly.
The engine turns over fully with no valve clashing issues, but i cant understand why they won1t align?

Am i doing something wrong? Or is that the way it is?

Please help someone, as I want to get it sorted and back in the car this week.

Pavlo

Jon,

My email is down, so here's some info on the larger injector o-rings if you haven't already got some.

The fuel rail ID is 25.4mm
The injector groove diameter is 19.75mm
The recommended o-ring section diameter is 3.6mm (based on groove and fuel rail dimensions).

The closest o-rings I can find are:

19.8 ID with 3.6 section, dowty ref 201-016
19.0 ID with 3.5 section, dowty ref 206-569
19.0 ID with 3.55 section, no dowty ref, but ISO 3601 series.

These people might be able to sort you out locally.

All Seals (East Anglia) Ltd
17-18, Roundtree Close
Norwich Norfolk
NR7 8SX
Tel: 01603 486851

Otherwise Blue Diamond in portsmouth will deffo be able to help:

Blue Diamond Bearings Ltd
Rolwey House, School Close Chandler's Ford
Eastleigh Hampshire
SO53 4BY
Tel: 023 8025 8966

Blue diamond will be able to do next day via royal mail NP.

Don't know what o-ring is best, but the smaller section 19mm ones probably better as they do swell slightly with petrol. Standard Nitrile Rubber (NBR) should be fine.

Paul

Joff

Paul,

Went to my local rubber dealer and he wanted about £80 for new seals as he would have to make a new dye!

I have been to all seals in Norwich and got the nearest size, but they are not quite right, so i decided to stick with the originals and silicone grease.

Any ideas on the cam timing? It would be easier to do whilst the engine is out, planing to put in on friday.

Joff

BTT

Has anyone got any advise?

Fifi

One side of the timing belt is 1/2 tooth out. I'll try and verify which side it goes to. BTW I have an STI IV as well.

Joff

Thanks Fifi,

Anyone else had this problem? or is it just me???

kev93wrx

Hi geezer have you done the counting of the teeth bit before you put cam belt on its in the paper you gave me about belt replacement something about getting the right spacing between cogs by counting teeth ..

Joff

Alright Kev.

No I haven`t but I will check tonight, thanks.

How is things with your motor? I should be back in and running this weekend, fingers crossed.....

kev93wrx

Dont fkn ask mate still waiting on the mains should be here soon ive changed mobile no by the way 07762213615

LB4

Did you get this sorted? .... i have my belt off now and will be fitting the new one tomorrow, i'll let you know how it goes as far as being half tooth out if you haven't got yours done yet.

LB4

Shropshire-Guy

Line up Right hand side cam pulleys first. Arrow to Arrow. Set left ones up Arrow to arrow. Now turn left one top and bottom back one tooth each .Put cam belt on. Release tensioner. left ones will now come into line.

Joff

Thanks Shropshire guy, I will try this tomorrow and hopefully works, just thought i would check whilst engine is out.

Shropshire-Guy

Dont forget. Do sod all untill marks are all spot on . I had same problem with my Leggy.

ONLY TURN ENGINE OVER WHEN ALL TIMING MARKS ARE IN LINE PLEASE.

OR IN DEEP DO DOOSSSSSS

Postman Pat

Just a thought.
A couple of weeks ago somebody had a problem after they put on the belt and turned the engine by hand. When the engine was cranked around the marks did not line up. Apparently the tensioner was bolloxed. Do a search mate!

Pat ;D

Joff

Cheers guys, I will be v careful, I have spent a lot of time/money/tlc on this motor so I won`t cut corners at the final hurdle!

So to summarise, ALL marks should/will line up just with a bit off care and thought? I assumed they should, but was a bit baffled?!

danc

Came across this thread while doing a search, Joff did you ever get the timing marks to align correctly?,I have the same problem with my '95 WRX.
This is what I'm seeing..
The inlet cam on rhs is slightly out.This was also seen before the belt was changed, all other 3 cams align correctly at TDC.
The inlet cam sprocket has a 'II' (2 small lines) mark at 6oclock, which should align with the 'II' mark at 12oclock on the exhaust sprocket, when everthing is aligned correctly at TDC. Instead the first line on one sprocket aligns with the second of the other. i.e. there's a small offset.

Has anyone found a solution to this, BTW the engine is out of the car.Before the belt change I checked compression on all cylinders.LHS both cyls 180 psi (cold engine, WOT), but RHS both cyls 160 psi.? Is the timing error enough to loose this amount compression. (40K,km)

scoobyboy

when you time these engines up they are not at tdc all the pistons are half way in the bores just to confuse things even more sorry!

ticky

Joff i had the same problem half a tooth out repeated tries & still got it half a tooth out. Eventually booked the car at RGM who came back at said that they timimg marks were fine? So i went with that. but once we managed to set the timimg spot on using similar method to Shropshire Guys but it all had to be stripped again due to other problems.
Danc is your car running currently with un even compression or are you just quoting from an old thread, cos it sounds like its mine.
As for resolving it : could be sticky valves, worn rings or possibly the timing. Ive still got that engine in my spare car so havnt really done anything to it yet.

danc

Ticky,
Yep these are figures from my own engine.
The car is an on going project, I bought it damaged. As I said the engine is out of the car, on a pallet, with gearbox and starter connected. It has been sitting idle for several months, so it could be crap on a valve seats or something . I'd really need to get the engine running for a while, and re-check on a warm engine.
I thought it strange to find no imbalance between each cylinder on each bank, yet the difference between either RHS cyl and either LHS cyl is 20psi, tried this several times over.

Like I said pair on LHS 180 each, RHS 160 each.
This is why I'm suspecting valve timing.. or maybe oh no. a head gasket.

Scoobyboy,
the crank mark is at 12 o'clock when 3 other sprockets align, however I didn't remove a plug to see where the pistons were, (I assumed this to be TDC mark) cheers, I'll check that out.

206CC

Forget lining up the "II" marks on the pulleys.. On some cars these marks will line up ok. on others they are just out of alighnment.. (ie the half a tooth you are describing)

I presume the timing belt that Ur are fitting has the timing marks printed on it..If so then the dotted line is the mark for the crank pulley (centre) straight up..
Then line the other two marks to the left and right with the single marks on the outer edge of each of the pulleys..

The timing will then be correct.. It cannot be half a tooth out..

206CC

Forget lining up the "II" marks on the pulleys.. On some cars these marks will line up ok. on others they are just out of alighnment.. (ie the half a tooth you are describing)

I presume the timing belt that Ur are fitting has the timing marks printed on it..If so then the dotted line is the mark for the crank pulley (centre) straight up..
Then line the other two solid line marks to the left and right with the single notches on the outer edge of each of the pulleys..

So:
The near side pulley marks will be.. Upper pulley (inlet): mark will be at 12oclock.. The lower pulley (exhaust): mark will be at 3oclock

The offside side pulley marks will be.. Upper pulley (inlet): mark will be at 12oclock.. The lower pulley (exhaust): mark will be at 9oclock



The timing will then be correct.. It cannot be half a tooth out..

Dealer Scooby Tech

David_Wallis

has the block been skimmed? wrong thickness gaskets??

David

danc

I had thought about gasket thickness, head/block skimmed etc. but thought that the exhaust cam would also be out slightly ?? which it isn't ?

Bear with me, I'm miles away from the engine at present,so I can't go and check anything right now, I done this over a month ago, this is what I can remember.

The timing belt dotted line is at 12 oclock on crankshaft.Below I refer to view from front of engine...

LHS,all ok, inlet mark "I", is spot on at 12 oclock, exhaust spot on at 9 oclock.
RHS, inlet mark "I" slightly off 12 oclock, exhaust spot on at 3 oclock mark.

The amount by which the inlet "I" is off, I didn't measure with an angle gauge or anything, but it's the distance between both lines in the "II" marks,
since the first line of one sprocket aligns with the second on the other sprocket, if you know what I mean.

This is exactly how the marks aligned with the old belt,(genuine scoob item, 60K,KM on engine, not 40 as I said earlier).

I think I'm gonna have to strip of covers again for another try.
I wish someone had seen this problem (or is it) before and got it sorted simply be fitting the belt in a different manner

anybody got a vernier pulley !!

ticky

Danc e-mail me a contact number or e-mail address, Thanks Ticky

danc

Ticky, Can I find e- mail contact details for you on here somewhere, so I can send on my e-mail address.

ticky

If you look at the date/time section next to any of my reply /threads you will see three little boxes.
1.box with face in it : my profile/details
2.the one next to it looks like a letter with stamp : my email address.
3.the last one is for editing the thread.
Or www.scoobyuk33@aol.com (home)
www.scoobyuk33@hotmail.com (work) but going to get banned