http://s93.photobucket.com/albums/l52/dow-tom/My%20Mx5/ first picture is the Exhaust notch, but on the intake side. The second is my crank set to TDC ( vcould i be on the wrong cycle IE exhaust instead of intake?)

 

i turned the crank over again, and this came up.

http://s93.photobucket.com/albums/l5...crankagain.jpg


observations rich?

 

Well the intake cam is off a little maybe 1 tooth but it doesnt look to bad. My money is on plug wires being wrong.
http://www.miata.net/garage/ignition.html

 

When I replaced my head gasket and timing belt we had that problem of the gears not lining up perfect. It was a bitch to fix and took both me and my friend to make it right. I put open end wrenches on the cam shafts to keep them in line and then he put on the belt. Took us a couple of tries because for some reason the damn thing settled off one tick.

 

yeah it keeps setting off 1 tooth after the belt gets on, can you take a picture fire of your cams so i can see what they suposed to look like? Also, how can i tell if im on the intake or exhaust cycle, does it matter:?

also, rich i tried in both orders and nothing... im bout to buy scott a plane ticket to have him come up, or take it to a shop.

 

spark plugs in correct order.

 

you want it on intake for sure. TDC intake is right after the intake valves close but before the exhaust valves on #1 start to open. If you have tdc on the crank and the intake valves are starting to open you are TDC exhaust. Ok lets recap
plugs are on right.
Cams relatively close
Do you have spark ?
Do you have compression ?
Is the fuel system working ?
Is the pump staying on ?
Is the cat still in place ?
You took of the cat and the car runs like a champ? that should give you a few ideas we had a 96 that did this same **** and we ended up replaceing coils, Cas, Kas, FP, WP, etc only to find that it was a bad wire comming hot to the fuel pump and a clogged cat. We hard wired the pump and fixed the cat and all has been well ever since

 

okay, i'll recap. the plugs worked before i changed it, cams are close, i had spark when i put the screwdriver close to the coil pack. Haven't checked for compression, Fuel system worked but i'll check again.

My question though rich, is it possible to set TDC for the wrong cycle (IE exhaust right before the intake opens? as opposed to intake right before exhaust opens?)

 

Yep that is why i reference what is happening relative to the cams. You aren't just setting piston TDC you are setting cam tdc as well. I hope you figure it out before you have to resort to a shop doing it for you. Have you asked Frank about it?

 

haven't spoken to frank in a while. Okay, so it's possible the crank pulley is off 180? So if i turn the crank over and reset everything and it doesnt work.. it's to the shop i go. i can't be car less for much longer. I have to get my 60k tune up(check thread above) anyway... this **** pisses me off.

 

I understand brah GL.

 

When I replaced my idler/tension pullies it was a pain to put back together and line up. Here's what I had to do, you might need an extra set of hands: put the crank at TDC, run the belt around the idler pully on the drivers side. Then while keeping the belt tight, with no slack, run it over the cam gears (you may need help to keep them in place since the valve spring will want to move the cams). Then while the belt is still kept tight, run it down past the tensior pully. Adjust the tensioner pully, and it should be set. Turn the crank by hand 2 revolutions to make sure everything is still lined up.

 

it happened.... i watched my baby leave... on a tow truck. haha. It's at the shop getting it's 60k tune and the startin problem fixed.