cam/timing problem

[theone]

ok, i just replaced the screws on my aem cam gear with stroger ones.
problem is when i took the srews out the cam gear turned all the way around when tryna set it at -0-
i put it back at -0- and tighten the srews down. turned the car on and it fumbles/backfires/and white smoke comes out
what can this be?
timing off?
if so how do i set it?
im about to go get the haynes man. but i know theres a lot of u here that kno how to do this also, so please help, if i cant do it im just taken it to the shop wednesday to get it done, no biggie, i just rather do it myself, thanks.
Theo-

[BustedLX]

Yeah that gear must be really off. Put piston 1 at TDC and check the position of the gear. That's the only way to see how off it is.

[theone]

so how do i do this?
what exactly do i have to look at?
i went out to mess with it again and it didnt back fire any more but it still fumbled and white smoke came out the exh.
its there some place the gear has to be lined up with. i looked at the haynes man. and it showed some markings and stuff, then on the ca gear theres 2 mores across from each other, do they have to be lined up to another marking?

[theone]

ok, found out the cam timing is off. there markings on the cam gear that suppose to be at 8 and 4 o'clock
or 7.
hpoe this work

[theone]

still couldnt figure it out so im just taking it to the shop wednesday, thanks for the help tho

[BustedLX]

Sorry to hear that. It's best to have someone that knows about it look at it. It's hard to try to fix something without the car in front of you.

Don't drive the car with that miss. Get it there some other way because you could really hurt it if you drive it missing like that.

[theone]

ok, thanks

[theone]

but Busted, around how much do u think it will run me to get this fixed?
i know its something to do with the cam/crankshaft/ and timing belt being off.
because thats the only thing i was messing with, before then it was working fine.
i didnt drive it anywhere so i kno i havent done any damage to it.

im thinking one or a few teeths are of somewhere.

[BustedLX]

I would say two hours labor max. If you get yourseld even a Haynes manual you could fix it yourself. Supposing you have the correct tools.

[theone]

finally got my car up to the hop today, had to push it there with my other cb7. hopefully she'll be fine when i get home to pick her up.

thanks Busted for the help also....

i finally figured out how to put the piston at TDC....lol

[2point6]

Stepping back a bit... did you actually remove the camgear to replace the bolts? What I mean is did at any time did you seperate the toothed gear (outer ring) from the inner portion (part that bolts to the cam) and then replace the bolts? Or did you replace the bolts 1 at a time? Did the timing marks "slip" while the engine was running?

[theone]

thats exactly what happened, the top part of the cam gear, with the teeth cam off the inner part of it, i wish i would have repalced the bolts one by one.
but thats what happened

[2point6]

Damn.. I was hoping not to hear that. Honestly If you placed the cam gear back on the car in the wrong position, it is highly possible that you had piston to valve contact. Unfortunately bent valves will occure in this case, since it sounds like the timing was way off. I am sorry to hear this. I wish you luck in your repair. On the good side... IF the head has to come off for repair/replacement of the valves, it is a good time for a port and polish job. Hit me up if you are interested. I have race porting starting at $550 complete.

[theone]

the heads i have on theres p&p with valve work done to it, but i haven drove it sense this happened and not even started for long, i say like 4-5 seconds at the most, so im hoping its ok.

p.s. and if so, then yes, i might be sending u my extra heads for p&p

[2point6]

Well I will keep my fingers crossed for you, but even 4-5 seconds can be bad. (I am not trying to be pessimistic here) Honestly, my advice is to pull the head anyway (considering you already had the P&P done) and inspect the valves. It would be a shame if The car did start up even with bent valves and then later a valve broke (due to initial damage) wasting your "done up" head. Unfortunately, I have seen this happen too often.