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Where does your timing belt ride?

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Prib9671

10+ Year Contributor
123
5
Jun 9, 2009
Rathdrum, Idaho
Just getting around to putting my engine back together finally :D, but I noticed that after installing the timing belt it was not centered on the cam gears. I rotated it around several times to see if it would settle or move at all but it's still on the inside edge. You can see that the belt hangs over the cam gear just a hair on the inside. I've done other timing belt jobs before but never noticed it this much, Hopefully it's ok. I assume it is but Please let me know otherwise if anyone knows something I don't.

My question to everyone is: Where does your timing belt ride?
 

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Mine sits very slightly to the left (inside edge), but there is still visible cam gear on both sides. Make sure all the pulleys are tight.
 
you might of started the belt to far in try pulling it out a little and then rotate the engine and see if it stays there . if it doesn't then something could be wrong.
 
If the tensioner pulley is on too tight it can cause the belt to "walk" in either direction while rotating.

Gus
 
If the tensioner pulley is on too tight it can cause the belt to "walk" in either direction while rotating.

Gus

Mitsu spec is .150" to .180" for the distance from the body of the hydraulic tensioner to the arm, my gap is .161" so that's not it. I have FP2 cams and it almost looks like they're too long. The belt is centered on the the crank sprocket, oil sprocket, idller pulley and tensioner pulley. Just not on the cams gears.

you might of started the belt to far in try pulling it out a little and then rotate the engine and see if it stays there . if it doesn't then something could be wrong.

I just tried to move the belt out while rotating it several more cycles and it moves back to that inside again, it seems like it found a new home LOL. I guess I will have to just watch it when I first start it up.
 
Mine sits similarly but with a little more wiggle room left in it.


It looks like the belt is already sticking out further than the cam gear. I would definitely redo the timing job.
 
Give it a few rotations etc to see if it settles but don't run it like that. It'll shear that width off quickly.

I just rotated it several full cycles (again) back to the #1 piston at tdc and the belt is still sitting flush along the one side of the cam gears, not overhanging at all so it won't be able to shear itself. It's like the cams are 1/16" too long. My belt is flush on one side of the cam gears and I measure .125" on the other side so it's only a 1/16" off from being "perfectly centered".

Mine sits similarly but with a little more wiggle room left in it.


It looks like the belt is already sticking out further than the cam gear. I would definitely redo the timing job.

It seems it was a little off the side at first then I moved it back as I rotated it some more now it just sits flush. I will redo it right now and report back in a minute.
 
I would be certain before you even think of cranking it up.If you read my part out thread from today you will undrstand why.My belt snapped today out of the blue with just shy of 6k miles on it,from looking at it i suspect it's from the exact same situation or a bad tensioner only the belt was rubbing from the other side of the cam gear.If i had looked at your thread yesterday i would be on the fence about where it sits,but today i would say good call on redoing the timing.If you have come this far it's not that much of a task by any means to go ahead and start over.
 
Thanks guys for all the responses and ideas. I just redid the timing and the belt and tensioner just settles flush to the inside. Anyone else heard of fp2 cams being a little too long? You last two posters have aem cam gears one says the belts where mine is and the next says it rides in the middle...so maybe they all ride a little different. I think I will redo it again but with the belt flipped around.
 
I have FP2x cams and Skunk2 cam gears, and mine rides almost perfectly centered

Can the crank timing plate (thin tin plate behind crank gear) be bent and allowing the belt to ride off the side?
 
I have FP2x cams and Skunk2 cam gears, and mine rides almost perfectly centered

Can the crank timing plate (thin tin plate behind crank gear) be bent and allowing the belt to ride off the side?

No the plate is perfectly fine. The belt is centered on on every other sprocket and pulley just not the cam gears.


So I redid the timing several times and even flipped the belt around and did it a couple more times. It just keeps settling a hair over the cam gears on the one side. I'm out of ideas as to what else it could be. I don't have my old set of cam gears or else I would try swapping those. Hmmmm...
 
You didn't interchange thecam caps by any chance?
My belt sits right on the center of the cam gear as well.

Are your cams and/or cam gears stock? My cam gears are. My cams are not.

I bought this head from a friend who had it rebuilt by a very legit local shop. They are very familiar with dsms and they installed these stock gears to these aftermarket cams and installed the caps. They would have noticed if there was an issue with them. Yes, I know from experience that if different caps are installed than the originals they need to be cut down and line bored or else the oil clearnces are wrong and they just don't fit right. Long story short, these spun freely so I believe 100% these are the proper caps.
 
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Yeah mine are stock. I was thinking that the cam gears might be fliped backwards, But that's not possible. Another thing that "might" help or make a difference is what year idler and tensioner pulley's did you install?...7 bolt and 6 bolt timing components are different.
 
Yeah mine are stock. I was thinking that the cam gears might be fliped backwards, But that's not possible. Another thing that "might" help or make a difference is what year idler and tensioner pulley's did you install?...7 bolt and 6 bolt timing components are different.

They are definately 6 bolt components. Like I said earlier, It's just weird that the belt is centered on all the other sprockets and pulleys except the 2 cam gears. I'm really starting to think the cams are that 1/16" too long.
 
Measure the distance between the cam lobes and the cam caps to see if the cam shafts are slid out slightly for some crazy reason??
 
I will take a picture aiming down the intake cam gear and showing the idler pulley after work.

I will also measure between the cam lobes and caps to see if it is slid out a little for some reason.




I went to go measure between the lobes and caps and look what I found. Can anyone please confirm that this spacing or placement of these cam lobes are correct or incorrect? Starting on the tranny side the gap from the left lobe in the pictures to the cap get progressively bigger until the the last 2 lobes where they actually look proper and even. the exhaust cam is the one pictured but the intake looks exactly the same. This may explain why the overall length is longer. Its like the casting and final grinding of these lobes are not correct. Thanks

Anyone have their valve cover off and can look let me know where their cam lobes positions are compared to the caps?

Anyone seen this before?

Thanks
 

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