cam timing question

So I assembled my motor today and I had a question about cam timing. I set the cams in, made sure all the slack was out of the cam chain, aligned the little > mark with the head and slipped it into the corresponding link in the cam chain.
Now, my question is, looking at my attached picture (in which I've crudely drawn the > timing mark on my exhaust cam) the mark is now above the level of the head, but if I were to align it with the next link down in the chain it would then be UNDER the level of the head. What do you guys think? Should I align it under? Should it be fine where it is? Thanks for any help....

I forgot to mention this is at perfect TDC 1-4. I am more than happy to take the time to redo rather than foul it up.

I just did mine (for the second time) . What bike is that? on mine the mark was a line with a T next to it.

The book says that timing mark must point right at the gasket line on top of the head

my bike is a 78 KZ1000. I'm thinking just to be safe I'll redo it tomorrow. Any other opinions????

Bicycle Lee wrote:

my bike is a 78 KZ1000. I'm thinking just to be safe I'll redo it tomorrow. Any other opinions????

hey lee, are the cam holders tightened down yet? mine looked the same untill i cranked em down and then mark lined right up where it should be....i have the same motor......also i believe the book says to take up chain slack last after cams are in and everything is lined up and top sprocket is installed......just my .02.....keith

keith1 wrote:

Bicycle Lee wrote:

my bike is a 78 KZ1000. I'm thinking just to be safe I'll redo it tomorrow. Any other opinions????

hey lee, are the cam holders tightened down yet? mine looked the same untill i cranked em down and then mark lined right up where it should be....i have the same motor......also i believe the book says to take up chain slack last after cams are in and everything is lined up and top sprocket is installed......just my .02.....keith

It was actually the other way around... The mark was lined up and after everything (including the cam chain tensioner) was torqued down, the mark was where it is now... The motor is at TDC and the cams are the right number of links apart, but the mark is maybe one link above where it should be. Is it everyone else's consensus that I should just take the 15 minutes it takes to take it off and move it??

Bicycle Lee wrote:

keith1 wrote:

Bicycle Lee wrote:

my bike is a 78 KZ1000. I'm thinking just to be safe I'll redo it tomorrow. Any other opinions????

hey lee, are the cam holders tightened down yet? mine looked the same untill i cranked em down and then mark lined right up where it should be....i have the same motor......also i believe the book says to take up chain slack last after cams are in and everything is lined up and top sprocket is installed......just my .02.....keith

It was actually the other way around... The mark was lined up and after everything (including the cam chain tensioner) was torqued down, the mark was where it is now... The motor is at TDC and the cams are the right number of links apart, but the mark is maybe one link above where it should be. Is it everyone else's consensus that I should just take the 15 minutes it takes to take it off and move it??

might be a good idea....good luck

I've had this happen to me a couple of times - I tend to rotate the crank twice by hand after timing the cam to make sure the slack worked out correctly and the timing is still accurate. I've been off by one tooth a couple times after rotating the engine. Being one tooth off I wouldn't think you'd hit a valve, but maybe someone more knowledgable can correct my procedure here if I'm wrong.

Bicycle Lee wrote:

So I assembled my motor today and I had a question about cam timing. I set the cams in, made sure all the slack was out of the cam chain, aligned the little > mark with the head and slipped it into the corresponding link in the cam chain.
Now, my question is, looking at my attached picture (in which I've crudely drawn the > timing mark on my exhaust cam) the mark is now above the level of the head, but if I were to align it with the next link down in the chain it would then be UNDER the level of the head. What do you guys think? Should I align it under? Should it be fine where it is? Thanks for any help....

I forgot to mention this is at perfect TDC 1-4. I am more than happy to take the time to redo rather than foul it up.

Looks off about 2 teeth/pins on the ex. cam

Alright... I'll give it another go tomorrow morning... I'm hoping I have some sweet videos to post tomorrow...

Yes it's hard to tell from the angle of the pic but when you got it right it will line up with the head then just keep some pressure on the chain (so that it doesn't jump the crank sprocket) while you count the pins but if it's on TDC 1-4 it's off 1 or 2

I agree with mod. it may be, just the pic angle, but it looks to be too high.

yes it looks at least 1 tooth off possibly 2 from that picture.