Cam Gear Alignment

[cvillebimmer]

I'm running a little rough at idle and every few seconds at idle there's a little miss. Does this look like I should move the gear forward a tooth? The camera angle is probably a little funny and I may find it's okay when I open it.

Edit: added green line. Would be 1 tooth clockwise

[Bill in MN]

There should be 15 chain rivits from the top of the chain guide platic to the center of the 6mm bolt on the top of the gear. From the looks of it your green line would be correct and you are off one tooth.

[cvillebimmer]

So I've run this way for a couple hundred miles. What, if any, damage could I have done?

[Martin in BellevueWA]

Shouldn't bend any valves being off that amount. Line the cam up with the tensioner installed. Rotate it by hand at the crank to ensure it is timed correctly (pulling away from the tensioner).
Please do me a favor. Keep an eye on the cam with the head studs. The rockers moved around a bit with ARP studs on my m30b35. This was noticed on the new cam, with the rockers riding on the cam, not centered. The thinking was that the studs weren't shouldered enough to firmly locate the rocker shafts.

[cvillebimmer]

Rockers looked fine. All were centered.

HOLY CRAP. One tooth makes a lot of difference.

Idle vac went from 14 to 18.

Pulls stronger all the way through. And I thought it was fast before!

[Brad D.]

That is excellent news!

[douginky]

Curious, what would be the symptons if it was off the other way, cam advanced one tooth