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Pretty sure the plug should be at the top. I didn't realise you could even mount it flipped over like that. I've done a 1.8 swap and that's how mine sits and I could set the timing to 10 degrees.
It made all the sense in the world when I put it together. I'm fairly sure its because my coils/bracket were already installed and obscuring the other bolt hole.
Barton, It actually doesn't look like your head has the same bolt hole on the right corner that mine does (94).
It ran surprisingly well almost 180* off if this is the case. I think it might be becausey plug wire order was 180* off as well. If another swap owner could chime in on their wire order o think this will be close to figured out.
Update. I cant get the engine to run on its own at all now.
I've rotated the CAS into the position it should be in ( the plug positioned up and the locking bolt on the left side), played with spark plug wire orders and CAS adjustment and even tried with a different CAS. All the plugs/wires make spark, it certainly smells like I'm getting fuel, this has got to be a timing thing.
I re checked my belt timing when I installed my new dampener and snapped some pictures:
Those are with the belt on and unless I'm really missing something, the marks are dead on.
Here are my ignition settings in case it helps.
I've rotated the CAS end to end a few times trying to get it to fire. Its not having it. I'll be stripping off some tape and redoing the soldering on my wiring extension for the CAS plug to see if that makes a difference.
Last edited by Elfering; 09-26-2015 at 12:16 PM.
Reason: Added Ignition settings
Is it sparking? What's the timing light showing on the crank pulley?
It is sparking on all cylinders. It won't idle or fire well enough to come close so I can't get my timing light to light up (at least not consistently enough to give me something to go off of).
I tried a different Coil today as well but did not tear into the wiring to re examine the wiring extension I did. I will probably use crimp connections on those the next go around, maybe temporarily.
I've had a strange problem more recently during cranking where the engine will stop cranking intermittently for a second and *chug* real hard when it happens then it will crank normally for a few seconds and repeat. This is with the battery hooked up to jumper cables or a battery tender.
That hesitation during cranking when it "chugs" hard could be because your engine is flooded and on the verge of hydrolock. If too much liquid fuel builds up in the cylinders during extended cranking (like what you're doing trying to start it) it can't compress it, and will do that until it can spit it out into the exhaust.
That hesitation during cranking when it "chugs" hard could be because your engine is flooded and on the verge of hydrolock. If too much liquid fuel builds up in the cylinders during extended cranking (like what you're doing trying to start it) it can't compress it, and will do that until it can spit it out into the exhaust.
That sounds entirely feasible. My tps is wired correctly now so I should be able "flood clear" with the pedal to the floor. But if my timing is that far off and the engine doesn't want to run, I'm really not sure how much of that fuel I'm burning up.
Unless you hear a bang or see smoke coming out the tailpipe then you're not burning any at all. The flood clear can help a little but in between long sessions of cranking it's probably best to pull the plugs and let everything dry out and try again later.
Timing marks are on the very right of the picture above, there is no timing cover for reference but it lines up about right.
I was not able to get the car to start at all with the CAS plug pointed up, no matter what I tried. For kicks, I rotated the CAS back to the way I had it originally (plug pointed down) to start it and test some things. It fired right up, with the marks reading at ~20* again. I took the locking bolt out and finished rotating it past where the channel/bolt would allow me and got it to read 10* no problem. Only issue is, I can't bolt the CAS down when its there...
Here's a video to help explain a bit.(my girlfriend was recording for me and I was talking to her, excuse the volume)
https://youtu.be/H_SnxVgVDiE
After playing with this a bit, I started to develop a theory that because my my car would run with correct timing with the CAS pointed down (almost 180* from where it needed to be) that perhaps the crank needed 1 full rotation separately from the cams. Like maybe It was timed at the top of an exhaust stroke instead of a compression stroke and some how because its only being read off the cams that was making it all 180 off... If that makes sense. Its hair brained, I know.
Anyways, I tore it down to the timing belt, gave the crank a full rotation and put it back together. I then re rotated the CAS to the correct orientation (plug up) and tried again with both plug wire configurations. No luck.
I have a few other things I want to try but I'm about out of ideas right now. Any thoughts?
Get us a picture of the cams lined up correctly, where we can clearly seem the cam lobes. The front 2 cam lobes on the intake side should be pointing at 9oclock, the front 2 cam lobes on the exhaust side should be at 3oclock.
Get us a picture of the cams lined up correctly, where we can clearly seem the cam lobes. The front 2 cam lobes on the intake side should be pointing at 9oclock, the front 2 cam lobes on the exhaust side should be at 3oclock.
Here are the cams as they sit lined up in tdc position. The first two intake lobes seem to point right at 9 o'clock and the first 2 exhaust are in the general direction of 3 o'clock but point more upwards, closer to 2 o'clock.
Here's the exhaust cam.
I've got nothing to compare it with but I'm fairly confident in my timing according to where the marks line up. If I remember correctly those cam gears only line up 2 ways, one for an intake cam and one for the exhaust. I believe I have those right as well. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.
I've been doing a little bit of reading into the cam gear locator pin over the last day or so. I'll go home and take the gear off tonight to check. My exhaust cam lobes are certainly not in the same position as the ones in the picture you posted.
I've been doing a little bit of reading into the cam gear locator pin over the last day or so. I'll go home and take the gear off tonight to check. My exhaust cam lobes are certainly not in the same position as the ones in the picture you posted.
Yeah I was going to saw your exhaust side one looked a bit high. I will try to get a picture tonight of my VVT motor set correctly with how it should be.