weirdness with timing

EDIT: 82 XJ750 motor

just got the head back on and bolted in. fit the chain guides, cams, sprockets, but havent bolted anything down. Why?

because i can't find any timing marks on the cam caps. There is a drilled mark on the shaft, but there is no mark on the cap that i can see. there are the arrows that point to the right (#4) side of the bike, but those are on the other side of a valve cover bolt hole from the timing mark on the shaft.

also, my caps are numbered 1 and 4, not 1 and 3 as I've seen elsewhere. Neither do my shafts have any flats for me to adjust them to match up the marks that are there...

what gives? am i missing something or is this strange to you too?

 

Check the ends of the cams themselves because they should have a small indent, a half drilled hole, which should line up with a hole in the end cam cap on both inlet and exhaust.

Onjce these are lined up the cams are timed correctly. The trick is to maintain them in that position as you tighten the cam caps and get the timing chain over the sprockets etc.

There is a knack to this but it's pretty straightforward if you just jiggle and loossen and line up the marks before bolting things down gently one at a time as you go around.

See how you go and report back...

 

well, i checked and found the hole in the 4th cylinders cam, but couldn't see a hole in the end cam cap it should line up with. it's just smooth metal.

i'm so close to a running bike i can taste it!!!

looking at the pictures on page 109 of the haynes manual, the timing mark should be on the #2 cam cap right next to the timing mark on the shaft... but it doens't exist on either intake or exhaust on my bike.

i can't see the hole you're talking about either redcenter. are you talking about the bolt hole? and is there a way to hold the camshaft in place while tightening the end caps, if i figure out what to line things up with??

 

bumpski....

 

The timing marks on the camshaft are on the round part which goes right against the left (as you sit on the bike) side of #2 (center) cap. There should be a partially drilled hole there (about the size of a pinhead). The timing marks on the caps will be located on the center caps for both intake and exhaust. Those look like tiny little triangles which point in the opposite direction of the big arrow that is stamped on the center of the cap. Looking on pg 109 of the haynes manual the photo in the bottom left shows both pretty well, but they are tiny and may be hard to see. There are flat spots ground onto the camshaft directly to the right of the #2 lobe which can be used to turn the camshafts once everything is bolted down, but you want to make sure the timing marks are close before you do otherwise you could have a valve hit a piston and cause some damage.

Just a thought here....are you sure that the camshafts and caps are in the right position and not backwards? Hope this helps clarify.

 

thanks josh. I'll check again, but Im pretty sure that there are no marks on the cam caps and that I have them on correctly.

I looked at page 109 to make sure of the location, but I can't find them on my bike. there are marks on the shafts, however.

Do those big arrows pointing right work as timing marks? From the picture in the manual it seems that they do line up, but I'd like to double check.

Thanks for the heads up on the flats location; i kept looking at the end of the shaft. dur.

 

From what I can tell the timing marks on the caps line up dead center with the wide end of the big arrow. The arrow points to the right side of the engine. If you don't have marks on the #2 caps then yeah, that's a little strange. You could possibly line up the timing marks with the center of the big arrow if you are very careful. Mind you, I'm working with a 650 and you have a 750, but I'm pretty sure the camshaft and cap marks are the same on both.

As far as having them backwards that happened to someone I know.(me )

 

yeah, They're not on backwars, but i did find the tiniest hint of a mark on the caps.... looks kinda like the original arrow wore down, but then it kinda looks completely different from the pix. regardless im 98% sure they're in the right spot.

all i have to do now is drill out the cam cap screw i broke off because i don't know how to use a torque wrench, then back to setting timing. hopefully on the road within a week! fingers crossed