Help..... Setting up the timing.

[sirch345]

Got the old girl running today. Ticking over very nicely. let her run for a wee while to get up to temp etc. Gave her a few handfulls and all seems well. The only thing is I an hearing a squeek. Almost sounds like a bird chirping. Tried backing off the cct's a wee bit to see if it made any difference. Nope it didnt, any ideas??

Jazz

Jazz,
As the others have said, usually a chirp or squeak whatever you want to call it means one or both CCT's are too tight.

I need help, my timing marks wont line up, the haynes manual is wrong and so is the one i downloaded.
I've spent a total of 10 hours timing up my engine to no effect, the FE and FI marks are always a tooth out, so i dont know what to do.

TUG,
If your bike has done a few thousand miles then the cam chains will have stretched a little and that's why the FE and FI marks don't line up exactly. Also make sure the FT mark on the alternator is spot-on, as that will make it look out more than it really is.

Chris.

[Jazzscot]

Sirch mate, I really am in you guys debt. You have been a great source of support and piss taking(which has kept my spirits up). If you ever up my way Im owe you some beeeeer

Jazz

[sirch345]

Jazz no worries mate, just pleased too hear all went well, and with a bit of final adjustment should have you all sorted

Chris.

[benny hedges]

I need help, my timing marks wont line up, the haynes manual is wrong and so is the one i downloaded.
I've spent a total of 10 hours timing up my engine to no effect, the FE and FI marks are always a tooth out, so i dont know what to do.

could well be that the timing has slipped at some time, or was set up wrong by a po?
see what it's like with a cct on and tensioned proper - could just be you are reading the slack>
if not then you need to follow the instructions for setting the timing from scratch.

i had a similar problem with an old ft500, no matter how much i tried following the book i couldnt get the marks to align, so in the end i just took the cam gear off the cam, jogged it back a tooth on the chain, then bolted it back up, spun it over a few times and it was spot on.

to do that i had to remove the cct and push the guide in with a screwy to get enough slack on the chain to jump it a tooth.

if you were having sh1t running problems before then this could well be what's been up with it.
is it both cams that are out of line or just one???

[tony.mon]

I need help, my timing marks wont line up, the haynes manual is wrong and so is the one i downloaded.

If it's Sirch's one from the workshop knowledgebase on here it's not wrong, you're not getting something completely correct.

Follow every step carefully, and it'll be correct once you've reached the end.

Like Benny says, if the marks don't line up, make sure you have pulled the slack in the correct direction, you want to have the non-tensioner side pulled tight.
Then if the marks are out, take off the cam top caps , remove the cam and re-insert it so that it's correct. If you just tilt the cam upwards at the non-sprocket end you can joggle the chain over the teeth.

Note that It's important to have the cam lobes pointing towards each other or away from each other- see Sirch's directions.
(and don't drop the bolts down the cam chain tunnel).

[TUG]

Stretched cam chains.

[tony.mon]

Good luck replacing stretched cam chains-(have a look in the Haynes to see how much work is involved) TBH I'd accept that the timing marks don't line up exactly on the head and time it as near as you can.

Or file elongated cam sprocket mounting holes and set the cam timing manually, but although that's what I'll be doing with my race engine I wouldn't expect many people will be that fanatical about getting the timing correct- only reason I'm planning to do that to mine is that I'm having the cams reground and need to set the cam centres accurately afterwards.
Not really necessary for standard cams in a standard engine.

[sirch345]

the FE and FI marks are always a tooth out, so i dont know what to do.

TUG,
I've just had a re-read of what you posted earlier.

If you're definitely sure the FE and FI marks are a full tooth out then they need re-setting correctly as they are not at present

Chris.