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Timing chain replacement dilemma

dotman

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Nov 24, 2008
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Location
Syracuse NY
I have a 1970 GTX with a 1968 440 engine in it. The engine has been into before I bought the car. No ideas on the specs at all on it. It doesn't seem too radical. I decided to check the condition of the timing chain on the engine. I lined up the timing mark on the balancer, checked the dist.( pointing to #1 on cap) and ripped it apart. The chain had a lot of play it it so i decided to replace it with a roller setup.Now my problem. The marks on the gears were not lined up. the cam gear was at 12:00 and the crank gear was at 12:00. The info I can find says the marks should be lined up at 12:00 on crank and 6:00 on cam gear. :confused:??? Would the engine even run with the cam 180 degrees out?? It ran okay but had a detonation problem which started me down this road. One of the senior techs at the shop I work at said that it should be timed like that. He said to line it up with the casting bump on the block just above the timing cover like it was. Any Help would be appreciated. Rich
 
It doesn't matter. Worst thing that can happen is to have the distributor 180* out. The cam mark will line up at 12:00 and 6:00 (with the crank @ 12:00) as you rotate the motor.
 
As 69 runner mentioned, you're OK, but you will have to install the distributor 180 degrees opposite from the way you removed it.
 
If both dots are at 12 o'clock and the rotor is pointed at #1 you're in good shape. Dot-to-dot (crank dot at 12 and cam dot at 6) would actually be TDC for #6 cyl. Rotate the engine till it's dot-to-dot and see if the rotor's pointed at #6 then.
 
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