wont start after replacing head gasket?

[rubjonny]

My method allows you to leave the pullies & cover on.  Just kinda pull the front of the cover out a bit, to give you just enough room to move the intermediate shaft sprocket round a tooth at a time.
you could take all the pullies off and the cover completly, then you have unrestricted access to the timing belt, just a bit more work involved.

Just suggesting you can just take the front nut off to save you a bit of effort

[Dibz]

the marks on the intermedate shaft sprocket needs to be lined up with the notch in bottom pulley, will the intermedate shaft will turn freeley?
once these line up then slacken off the dizzy and twist that till the rotor arm and notch line up, set the cam sprocket mark then it should be ok to fire up?  can I turn all these bits without fear of any vavles hitting any pistons?

[rubjonny]

Ignore the int shaft marks, they arn't important. Just make sure the rotor arm lines up with the notch on the dizzy, thats all that matters
as long as you dont move the cam n crank from TDC you're fine, even if you did 8v is non interferance.

The intermediate shaft spins free when the belt is loose, what you want to do is move it round till the rotor arm is close to the mark, then you adjust the dizzy to make it perfect.  You might even get away just by spinning the dizzy and leavin the belt alone, but it depends how far out the int shaft has moved.

Basically if its too far and you try to move the dizzy alone you could end up with the hall sensor/vac unit  hitting the block.

[Dibz]

I would still have to undo the four allen bolts on pulley that the alternator belt goes round to get to the bottom cam cover thou? just trying visualize it all without going out to the car.
with the cam belt loose the intermediate shaft would of not moved, so by setting the other marks without the belt on the dizzy becomes well out?  so what is needed is to turn the intermediate shaft till the rotor arm lines up?

[DarnPB]

Just rotate the dizzy. Its very simple.

[Dibz]

Just rotate the dizzy. Its very simple.

thats going to be what I will try first, messing with the intermediate shaft is my last resort.

[rubjonny]

the very front nut is accessible withoput takin the pulley off, its the front most belt cover fixing, screwed onto a stud/bolt thing that is pushed thru the waterpump.  you'll see what i mean when you look at it.

as I have said several times, when the belt is loose the intermediate shaft can and will move, it spins freely
The only thing it is attached to is the oil pump and distributor, there is nothing that will stop them from moving when the belt is off, especially if you messed about spinning the bottom end

edit: by all means have a go spinnin the dizzy, you might just get away with it, but if it hits the block then you'll have to move the intermediate shaft to bring the rotor arm round. Oyher thing you could do is take the dizzy out and move the rotor arm round a bit, just be aware the oil pump has a slot drive in the bottom o the dizzy so you'll have to move the pump drive round a bit as well to make it slot back into the dizzy.

[Dibz]

just had a thought, could I not turn the rotor arm end as its all attached or will there not be enough leverage and be really stiff to move?

[DarnPB]

just had a thought, could I not turn the rotor arm end as its all attached or will there not be enough leverage and be really stiff to move?

The rotor is directly attached to the intermediate shaft, so you cannot turn it independantly to the engine. When you turn the body of the distributor, the rotor will stay in the same position, so you make the notch line up with the rotor.
The dizzy and rotor move independantly to each other.

[rubjonny]

aye as above, the only way to move the rotor arm without moving the dizzy, is as i sad by taking the belt off the cam sprocket, taking off the front nut on the timing belt cover, and pulling it out a bit.  this gives you enough room to move the intermediate shaft 1 tooth at a time.  its fiddly but it works.  I did it by pushing the belt downwards and twisting the rotor arm by hand, bit of wiggling and it will jump round a tooth at a time.

other alternative is to move the dizzy, if there is enough room to line it up without the vac unit/hall sender hitting the block, and also leaving it in a position where the hall sender wires can reach.

yet another option is to take the dizzy out, line up the rotor arm to the notch, spin the oil pump shaft so it lines up with the slot drive, then refitting the dizzy.  Sometimes it can be a mare, but it will go in eventually.

last option is to take all the pullies and covers off, then you can take the belt off and move it all about as much as you like.

Edit: The reason I know about option 1 is because exactly the same thing happened to me.  I was swappign the exhaust on my 1.6, and one of my exhaust studs was completly corroded.  I tried everything but in the end I had to take the head off.  Since I wasn't planning for this I hadn't really looked into it much, I took head off but leaving the belt and lower covers in place. I made sure I didnt touch the cam or crank in the mistaken belief that this would ensure the timing was spot on.  I drill out the stud, refit the head and put the belt back on exactly as it was, but engine ran like a bag of spanners.
I did a bit more research and found that the intermediate shaft will move easily when the timing belt is loose, so I turns it over to TDC and check. sure enough, the rotor arm was out a tooth or so.  I didnt have a timing light at the time, so I didnt want to move the dizzy as I would need one to get it exactly right.  So I use method number 1, wiggled the belt and rotor till it moved round to the right spot.  Put it all together and it fired up and ran perfect