Timing mark confusion

[rubjonny]

cant say i have either, i guess heat expantion would move the head up a wee bit, never thought it would be noticable though?

[rubberdubber]

yeh im a vehicle mechanic for Peugeot and ive never noticed it before! I suppose as the pulleys will expand slightly when they get hot, i dont think ile worry about it too much

[danny_p]

belt tensioned on cold engine,  if it gets a bit tighter when its warm it probaly meant to

[rubberdubber]

Yeh i think your right, i suppose the pulleys are going to expand when it gets hot so increasing the tension

[Dibz]

just about to set up the timing on a '86 mk2 gti 8v, when the "V" on the crankshaft is matched to the mark on the block, (there's a mark down on the side of the block) the cylinder is at full height in the first cylinder what i belive is TDC.
the head is off at the moment but when i set the punch mark on the cam pulley level with the front rim of the head (where the rocker cover gasket sits) one of the valves is open. 
is this right? I'm a bit doubtful that I'm setting this up right and am worried that if i get this wrong that the valves will hit the top of a cylinder when I try to turn it over.
is there a second way of checking that I've got everything right before i bolt it all back together?
Should I pop off the dizzy cap and check the mark against the rotor arm and also remove the gearbox plug to check that mark, if so whats thew best way to remove that plug?
I just want to get the car to run ok-ish before i get it timed up better by a mate when i take it down for its mot.

[rubjonny]

sounds like the cam sprocket is fitted the wrong way round, when the camshaft is at TDC both valves on #1 are fully shut, the lobes on the cam point up and away in a V shape like this: |\ /|

You need to remove the gearbox plug anyway as you need to see the flywheel marks to time it up properly with a timing gun, so take that out and verify the punch mark is lined up.  It should be pretty much spot on using the crank pulley marks though.  As for the dizzy no need to remove it, just spin it round so the rotor arm is lined up with the notch on the outer lip of the dizzy.

To get the plug out I tap it round with a hammer & screwdriver, sometimes they come out easy sometimes they fight you.  If you happen to have a lambda probe or diesel injector socet, flup it upside down so the spanner flats fit inside the hex cutout in the top, its a bit too small but it should be big enough to spin it out.

[Dibz]

Just had a look at the head and it look like i was seting the cam sprocket with the mark on the outside!
Ive turned it over so the lobes are sitting in the point up and away position and ive found that it marries up with a punch mark on the inside of the sproket level with the front edge of the head.
so is there marks on both sides of the sprocket? why, I dont know!

anyone know the correct torque setting for the cam bearing caps? I can't seem it find it in the Haynes manual!

[Steve_B]

I was told 20Nm for those.

[rubjonny]

that sounds right aye, reason there is 2 marks is that sprocket is also used for the intermediate shaft, the punch mark on the outside is for timing that up
bit pointless really as i say its the rotor arm position that matters not the int shaft, specially on old cars the marks on the int shaft are usually nowhere near!