Cam Chain gurus needed

[dbeardslee]

I think it was just a tooth off at the crank

Well, I moved the chain one tooth on each cam sprocket, and rechecked my marks. As predicted, when I put the dots dead on the pointers on top, I'm at around 5 degrees BTDC at the crank. I put the tensioner back in and set it and rolled it through a few times, but it didn't seem to make any difference on where I was hitting the marks. I tried looking at it a different way, and set the crank dead on TDC, and checked to see where the dots aligned. I think I've got it. Here's the pics - what do you guys think?

Degree Wheel


Intake Cam


Exhaust Cam

[79XS11F]

If your TDC is correct, your good to go. To be safe, spin the engine by hand several times and reconfirm. This will make sure the chain is properly engaged with the crank sprocket and that nothing has moved if spinning the engine were to cause an improperly engaged chain to fully engage on the crank sprocket. Don't forget to tougue those other 2 cam sprocket bolts.
Rob

[79XS11F]

OH ... and yes, check the alignment after using the crank to pull the cams. The cams can't push the crank.
Rob

[dbeardslee]

Rob - First of all, thanks for your help - I appreciate it greatly. I do, however, have a question - why do I have to retorque the cam sprocket bolts? I took the cams out of the head, but I never took the sprockets off the cams.

Funny you should mention TDC on the degree wheel. While I was checking things, I thought I felt the bolt slip a little where I was turning the crank. I checked my marks and everything was dead on the money, and I thought "this can't be right." I put my dial indicator on the top of the cylinder and rechecked the degree wheel, and sure enough it had slipped 5 degrees. I readjusted my pointer, so what your looking at in the pics is with it reading properly, and after it had been wound through by hand half-a-dozen times. I think the bolt slip was just the motorcycle gods screwing with me .

Just saw your last post. I've been turning things with a wrench on the bolt that's holding the degree wheel in place.

[79XS11F]

If you never took the cam sprockets off the cams then NO, you don't need to torque those bolts.
Rob

[dbeardslee]

After action report

We buttoned her up, and installed some Mikes XS green monster coils today. Steppenwolf hit the starter and she cranked right up. I synced the carbs (which were off a bit - probably due to the freshly shimmed valves) and she sounded great. I checked the timing with the degree wheel and a timing light and found it to be 5 degrees BTDC. He's got the tamper proof bolts, so we didn't mess with that - figured it was close enough for government work . We went for a test drive and she was running great, so the timing chain setup seems to be correct. From now on when I check my timing, I'm going to do it with a degree wheel - there's just no substitute for accuracy.

Here's where I think I made my mistake. When we were removing the valve cover (which hadn't been off in 10 years) one bolt broke off at the head, and another had to be cut off. I fixed those issues, but that got me fixated on the upper part of the motor, and I paid way too much attention to getting the dots right on the marks. The other cam chains I've installed I just set the crank on the 'T' and got the dots as close as the chain would allow with nary a problem. After what I've been through this week, I'm pretty sure I'll remember that the next time .

Thanks for all the help and suggestions. CH11 kicks butt.

[STEPPENWOLF]

Thanks guys for helping Doug get my bike back on the road and running good.