My 17 year old son needs to replace the timing chain and gears on his 64 Wildcat with a 401 nailhead. Anyone out there know where the timing marks need to be and how to put it on. Maybe you some diagrams to share??? We'd appreciate the help as I know very little about timing. He's out there wrenching on the old one now since he has a snow day so any help would be great!!!:beer
OK I will give this a shot I am no xpert on the nail head. The marks should be lined up little gear facing stright up dot at the top and big gear the dot should be facing down, make sure that the number one piston is at top dead center on the compresion stroke.
What Byron said, the dots on the gears should be facing each other when everything is lined up correctly.
And by the way, the crank should have #1 cylinder at top dead center (TDC). If the engine was not disassembled with #1 at TDC, you can always get it back there by using a degree wheel and piston stop. Basically, install the degree wheel according to it's directions. Then you would bolt the piston stop over #1 cylinder and turn the engine BY HAND ONLY and very slowly until the piston rises to contact the stop. Note the exact position of the marker on the degree wheel. Turn the crank back the other way, again slowly and by hand, until the piston again contacts the stop. Note the exact position of the marker on the degree wheel. Take the difference in degrees between the last number and the first number, divide by two. Add the result to the first number and move the crank until that mark is reached on the degree wheel. It probably takes longer to explain than to actually do. Other than that, the marks, be they dots, lines or whatever, should directly face each other. Assuming the engine is still in the car, the dot on the cam gear should point straight at the ground or due south on a compass, and the crank gear should point straight up, or due north on a compass. You will probably have to install the crank gear, then bolt the cam gear in place with the timing chain over both gears. It is probably a good idea to rotate the engine by hand again after you have the chain and gears installed. Be sure you have removed anything you used for a piston stop first. When you turn the engine over, be sure to investigate any kind of binding or extra effort needed to turn the engine through a minimum of two complete revolutions. Binding or 'sticking' could be valves touching pistons. A bad thing. Of course, you will want to have all of the spark plugs out for this if the heads are still on the car unless of course you have some really big arms or some serious help.....
