Rookie Engine Question

[Ohmess]

So, I often times wander into mechanical things and find I need help. Today is one of those days.

Here is a picture of my Cylinder 1 cam position with the engine at TDC (or at least, with the harmonic balance and the flywheel indicating that the engine is at TDC):



I guess I had thought that at TDC the intake and exhaust lobes would be pointing downward toward the engine, so that both valves would be completely closed, sort of like the way they look on Cylinder 6:



The cam sprocket nut looks like my dog has been chewing on it, so somebody's been messing around in here before me.

Based on the position of the cam lobes, I'm thinking I should alter the manner in which I install my new distributor so that the rotor is 180 degrees from the Cylinder 1 timing mark, rather than lining them up as I would normally do.

Thoughts?

 

[gwittman]

Rotate the crank one more time and you should find the position of the cam lobes more to your liking. The cam turns once for two revolutions of the crank.

 

[Stevehose]

Rotate the harmonic balancer another revolution and then see how it lines up on the cam

 

[Ohmess]

Much better

Thanks guys. I like that a whole lot better.

 

[Ohmess]

And much better than yours Steve, when you initially posted about this!