Setting timing/belt without plate behind cams..
 

So... putting motor back togetherish and back into car during this build. I pulled the timing belt off the cams for some reason... tried to slip them back on without touching the tensioner and I budged the cams.

Issue is... I don't have the plate behind the cams anymore... and its 1.5hrs away... and I'd prefer to just not run it at this point.

How do I align the crank/cams and such to put the timing belt back on?

I could do this on a honda... but I don't know enough about this motor to do it by secondary methods.

1993 1.6L...

I'm working on this literally now... so any help is super appreciated.

Traditionally when the marks are aligned the other set of marks will be at 12 oclock see this pic courtesy of m.net http://www.miata.net/garage/images/TBELT6.JPG

Wonderful. Wish me luck ;)

I really wish I had a shop manual.

just be carefull not to slip the crank around while installing the belt or adding tension. it is a pita, trust me. :D

marks aren't wanting to play nice.

I have a tiny dot in the rim of the gear on each.
I also have an E and and I on different spokes.
I also have a notch on both...

What goes where?

Help....

Ready to slap yourself and say "DUH"?

E = exhaust = driver's side cam
I = intake = pass side cam

hopefully you put a little dot of whiteout to identify position...

yeah i forgot about that sorry splittime,

No dots to mark anything... Was not intending to really remove belt... can't even remember why I was mucking with it.

I'm just so used to a honda... set crank and then u can set cams according to how they align with each other and cams.... so damn simple.

Bah... i put it together... no clue if its even close... I'll take a closer look once rest of car is together.

1) put the pin in the "I" hole on the intake side, and the "E" hole on the exhaust side (if the gears were removed)

2) The "E" on the intake cam should point roughly 30* below horizontal towards the engine centerline

3) the "I" on the exhaust cam should point roughly 30* below the horizontal towards the engine centerline

4) with the cams in that location there should be a tooth on each marked with a dot or a line (on the tooth itself), these should be damn near straight up.

5) To verify that the cams are accurate in relation to each other there should be 19 teeth on the belt between the marked gear teeth.

Now it has been a few months since I've done this so I could be wrong... but I think that's pretty close.

Thanks, old thread!

:confused:

I used the search function and found exactly what I needed so I thanked the thread. :)

OMFG LOL. He thanked the thread. I'm so doing that next time. :giggle:

P.S. I actually needed to know this, and was going to look for related info later this evening. Now I don't have to, and I can just archive it in my "Miata Tech" tab.