me and a buddy of mine put a new head, adjustable cam gears and all the timing stuff on my 96 eclipse n/t well, we cant get the timing marks lined up on the fidanza cam gears, and when we get them close, and start the car, it will idle funny, rpms will jump all over the place, and u can hear it sounds real bad. then we arent sure which way the cam pins r supposed to be facing, both up, or intake down, and exhaust up, becuz on the stock cam gears, to have the timing marks lined up, intake has to be down, and exhaust has to be up, the gears only have 1 mark on each one, and thats how they line up, is that right? and sometimes when we get it close to perfect and go to start it, it wont start, u can hear the starter spinning but thats it...we have been workin on this for 5 days now, the last 3 have been spent on timing, can anyone help us? is anyone in the pittsburgh Pa. area who knows how to do this better than my buddy does?

Defintely sounds to me like a timing issue. My car has been sitting for three weeks for the same reason - only I have stock cam gears (about the only thing left stock in there). If the timing is off, you're not building compression, which means your not going to get spark. Furthermore, if the crank and cams are far enough out of whack, the ECU won't even fire the coil. (Not to mention what can happen if timing get too far out of whack...)

You need to hit up the search and find out how to properly index those cams. I'd tell you, but honestly, there's been so much talk about it around here, I'd just confuse us both. I want to say they both point up. Supposedly, there are two holes in the stock cams near the center that should point straight up so you can use the factory tool to lock them in place. My Crowers don't have that, so I've never actually noticed that shit.

Good luck. It sucks balls having to fuck with timing only to not have the car start. And motherFUCK that motor mount bracket.

you aint kiddin about that bracket, spent about an hour the first time tryin to get it off, and another hour gettin it back on, but we figured out the secret to it, mwha haha.

does anyone have experience with the fidanza cam gears, and gettin them lined up? we cant get them lined up for shit, and we dont know which way the dowel marks face, both up, or one down and one up? anyone please offer some advice

NM, I searched for 'cam timing' and got this:

http://forums.2gnt.com/dcboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=5&topic_id=61981&mesg_id=61981&listing_type=search#61995

yeah, thats what we did, but it didnt work, i actually think the marks on the cam gears i have are off, cuz we put a wrench goin across the gear, and the lines dont match up. we also dont know which way the dowel marks should be facing, it seems like the intake should be facing up, and the exhaust should be down, but to get the marks lined up on the stock cam gears, intake is down, and exhaust it up, which is the right way?

Your stock cam gears have 2 sides to them are you looking at the 2.0 side?

Here's a little tip about the stock cams...

You know those cavities which look like someone tried to drill holes in the cams but stopped? Those face upwards.

the thing i dont get is, when they r both facng up, the little dowel things on the end of the cams where the gears sit on, if both r facing up, then the cams open the intake and exhaust valves at the same time, when they r up on mine, the intake and exhaust lobe on the cam is ready to open the valves, so that is why i was asking if one should be up and one should be down.
and also on the cam gears, i am looking at the 2.0L side, and like i said, to have the marks lined up on my gears, intake dowel is pointing down, and exhaust is up, my gears only have 1 mark on each side of the 2.0L, the 2.4L have 2 marks on each gear

Originally posted by bloodyangel1
the thing i dont get is, when they r both facng up, the little dowel things on the end of the cams where the gears sit on, if both r facing up, then the cams open the intake and exhaust valves at the same time, when they r up on mine, the intake and exhaust lobe on the cam is ready to open the valves, so that is why i was asking if one should be up and one should be down. and also on the cam gears, i am looking at the 2.0L side, and like i said, to have the marks lined up on my gears, intake dowel is pointing down, and exhaust is up, my gears only have 1 mark on each side of the 2.0L, the 2.4L have 2 marks on each gear

IIRC my stock gears have 2 marks on the 2.0L side too. But anyway these are stock cams right? And they were reinstalled correctly too correct? IIRC one dowell should be opposite of the other. So one should be up the other should be down.

If you read the entire thread I posted, you'll see that it tells you how to line up the dowels.

Now, if you take your valve cover off and look at the actual shaft of the cam, not the front where the dowels are, there are two holes drilled into the actual shaft as mentioned above. If you have the cams installed correctly, both of those holes should be on the top of the cams so you could install a U clip of some sort to hold the cams in place while tightening/loosening the bolt that holds the gear on. In doing this one cam dowel will be up (intake, I think, read that thread I posted) and the other will be down.

The lines may be off on the cam gears, but if you get the timing close, it should run.

well to have the marks lined up on the stock gears, intake was down and exhaust was up, its just hard to tell which it is cuz some ppl say both up, intake up and exhaust down, and the reverse, so i dont know who to believe

Originally posted by bloodyangel1
well to have the marks lined up on the stock gears, intake was down and exhaust was up, its just hard to tell which it is cuz some ppl say both up, intake up and exhaust down, and the reverse, so i dont know who to believe

That's why I said to look at the wholes on the top of the shaft inside the valve cover, it won't lie.

**EDIT**
When I get home tonight, I'll look at the cams I have at home if you're still confused.

well your right, intake cam hole is pointing the dowel pin to the south, and exhaust cam hole is pointing the dowel pin north, so i finally figured it out, the only thing i dont get is, when the first time we started it up after puttin the head and gears on and everythign, we had both pointing up, and it ran almost perfect, but not perfect enough, so we messed around with it, switched to 1 up and 1 down, and it only got worse, whys that?

So it's running correctly now? Were the cams off?

im not sure, i sent the head back, and am gettin a port and polished one, the first time it was started, both pins were facing up, and it ran almost perfect which i dont understand, but like u said, the holes on top of the cam show which way they need to be, which is 1 up and 1 down. i will just have to wait for the new head to come