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Valve timing after head gasket replacement

2K views 1 reply 1 participant last post by  ArjenB 
#1 ·
Hello people,

This is my first post on the forum. I have recently started DIY'ing a lot on my E36 318i. I have already asked this question somewhere else, but I'm trying to get a bit more advice.

So I had a leak head gasket in my M43B18 engine. Before I took the head off, I took the precaution to fix the chain to the camshaft sprocket with (way too many :) ) zip ties, and took the chain and sprocket off as an ASSEMBLY to make sure nothing will change a tooth.
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Then I took the head off, and marked the square piece on the camshaft that the sprocket attaches to, and made note that it was supposed to be pointing at around 1 - 2 o'clock. The square piece of the camshaft was - at this moment under a 45 degree angle.
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Then I brought the head to a machine shop to get it resurfaced. The guy there told me he had to rotate the camshaft and then lift it up to get the valves out of the way to get the job done. After the job was done, he warned me about how the timing had changed.
As you can see I got the head back with the camshaft rotated 45 degrees back to the left:
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Even though it was obvious he had changed the position of the camshaft, I immediately did not understand the problem. Can't I just rotate the camshaft back to where it was, with the marking I made pointing at approx. 1 - 2 o'clock? Of course I knew I could never get it back to the exact same position it was in when I took it off, but that was precisely the reason why I fixed the chain to the sprocket. If I'm correct, the chain and sprocket assembly will show me precisely in what direction the camshaft is supposed to be rotated, right? Just line up the slots of the sprocket to the holes off the camshaft, insert the bolts, and the bolt markings on the sprocket will help me finetuning the bolts into the correct position inside the sprocket slots.

Now I asked another mechanic yesterday, and he says the timing will only be an issue if I had taken the chain off the sprocket without marking it. I have, as said, NOT done this. Nevertheless, people in other forums tell me to reset the timing using proper tools. But I just don't understand why my method would not work, considering I fixed things in place to tell me the position of the camshaft as soon as I reassemble everything. If this method will NOT work, I am willing to believe that but in that case I just don't understand why it won't. Maybe I am just thinking this too easily or I'm overlooking something.

I would love to receive some advice on whether this would work or not. If not, I will rent some proper timing tools, but if it's not necessary this could save me some money.

Thanks a lot in advance.

Arjen
 
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