Ok this may be kinda long, but here it goes. I had recently turboed my 420a, and have been driving it just fine throughout the summer. So, a couple of weeks ago after driving it I checked my engine bay as I alway do and I noticed the timing belt was loose. So, I hadnt replaced the tensioner(stupid of me) when I had done the head gasket, turbo, etc so I just figure it was going bad. So I installed new belt, pulleys, and timed the engine. Now I have aftermarket cam sprockets with markings, but I didnt have them set correctly which I discovered when I tried to start the car with no success. So, I went back and retimed the engine using the oem sprockets for reference, and everything looked perfect. I started up the engine and it runs, but it idles rough, and my boost/vaccuum gauge jumps around. My exhaust cam dowel was facing down, and my intake dowel was facing up with timing marks aligned on the cam sprockets, and crank sprocket. Car seems fine once you rev it up, but idles bad. Could my cams still be out as far as timing goes????????????

Also I wanted to mention that I have checked all my vaccuum lines, I checked compression on all cylinders with them being all at about 170 psi. And, for some reason after the timing was complete and I started engine the new timing belt had somehow gotten a nick in it. So, regardless I will have to buy a new one, and redo the timing again. Thanks for any help.

Timing is off about 2 teeth on the cams. Seriously

ok well I have done the timing on this engine several times, and I thought it was good. Should I take the valve cover off, and redo the cam timing then the crankshaft timing to fix this correctly?

also have the cam timing off 2 teeth will this have hurt my valves if I ran the car for less than a minute?

Originally posted by FreikDog
ok well I have done the timing on this engine several times, and I thought it was good. Should I take the valve cover off, and redo the cam timing then the crankshaft timing to fix this correctly?

This shouldnt be a two stage process here...

Move your crank timing gear about 1/2 tooth BTDC, line up your camshaft marks together (both holes in the camshafts themselves should be facing upwards when your cams are properly aligned) then wrap your belt around, put tension on your tensioner and bolt it down.

Your timing is deffinately wrong though.

do you mean the actual holes in the camshafts with the valve cover removed or do you mean the dowels on the ends of the cams that the cam sprockets slide over?

Mike is talking about both holes in the camshafts after you remove the valve cover.

http://www.2gnt.com/index.php?d=Timing%20Belt%20Replacement

http://www.2gnt.com/index.php?d=Cam%20Gear%20Install

You should have enough info between those two articles to set your timing and change your belt easily.

thx everybody for all the input, and info I am going to tackle this tonight so I will repost with my end result.

Originally posted by FreikDog
thx everybody for all the input, and info I am going to tackle this tonight so I will repost with my end result.

Good Luck, and take your time.

Allright, I got the cams lined up right with the valve cover off, and just as I thought the markings on the cam sprockets do not line up perfectly. So, I marked them for future reference. After that I tightened everything up, and she fired right up smoothly. However, I don't know if it is just due to the computer needing to acclamate itself with the engine again or what, but it does seem to have a little of a rough idle only sometimes. There are no cels coming up, but I did notice that a rattling noise coming from the tranny was louder than I ever remember. So, I going to research that alittle to maybe find a cause. But, thanks to everyone that replied with help, and info if I wouldn't of had it I would have tore the head off for no reason which I wasn't looking forward to doing again since I replaced the head gasket. If anyone has anything further let me know. Oh, and by the way my car is a 96 eagle talon esi with a custom t3/t4 turbo setup with 93, 000 on the engine and body.