Cam timing surprise

[denniselbows]

I'm in the middle of doing the head gasket on my s2 and came across something that made me stop and think for a couple minutes . Now the 2 o on the cam sprockets are ment to line up aren't they . Now if I have attached my pic correctly you can clearly see they don't its a tooth out. This isn't right is it . The thing that puzzled me is I have had the car for 11 or 12 years and this is the first time the head has been off in my ownership . The heads been off before as it had a metal head gasket . So if the cam was a tooth out would it not run right or massively down on power and most importantly would the valves suffered , which they aren't there in mint condition . What do you all think time up the makes correctly or leave it as it was. Does anyone know what the result would be of having the inlet cam retarded one tooth . I have a small thought in the back of my mind that if a rs2 exhaust cam was fitted there is something about the timing on it you have to change the Linley cam timing to match not sure if my info is correct there and I'd be surprised if its got a rs2 exhaust cam in it as we'll . I'd like to here your thoughts to whats gone on . Am I just brain dead and have been driving a car that's not been going right since the day I bought it or is there some tuning methods I'm not aware of . Catch you all later I'm off to see inbetweener 2

[Laaf]

It is one tooth out, but it doesn't necessarily damage the valves. Adjusting the cams on tooth out is way too much for adjustment purposes, so I guess you have been running around in a car not running right.

[mcandmar]

From memory that is correct, those marks are only used to time the two cams in relation to each other while fitting the chain, they have nothing to do with the timing belt setup. i.e. if you set top dead center to line up the timing belt marks, those cam marks wont necessarily line up.

[UrS4boy]

From memory that is correct, those marks are only used to time the two cams in relation to each other while fitting the chain, they have nothing to do with the timing belt setup. i.e. if you set top dead center to line up the timing belt marks, those cam marks wont necessarily line up.

WRONG. They have to line up along with the marks on the cam wheel and the crank/flywheel.

The only exception is the 1 tooth out "trick" on the ADU.

http://forums.quattroworld.com/s4s6/msgs/136943.phtml

[denniselbows]

well I've now timed the cams correctly . just need to put the head back on now . it will be interesting to see how much a difference it make as i wouldn't of said it didn't go well before . Still find it hard to believe that it's been like it for at least 11 years and I've done about 100k miles like it . can't believe its not caused a problem before now . Any way I did check the lift on the exhaust cam and unfortunately with 8 .6 mm lift its not an rs2 (adu) cam so it was just wrong.

[george21]

i bet it will be your cheapest engine tuning ever and will put a bigest smile on your face when it's all done! good luck