Clone help

cab1424

New member
I was puting new gaskets on my clone and when I took the side cover off the cam come out with it...and I put it back it but now I barely can pull the starter...it is suppose to be at a certain angle?
 
I was puting new gaskets on my clone and when I took the side cover off the cam come out with it...and I put it back it but now I barely can pull the starter...it is suppose to be at a certain angle?

Did you align the 'dots' on the cam and crank gears?
 
cab, there is timing marks(dots)on both the cam and the crank gears, those have to be lined up, pull the sidecover back off and rotate the motor to TDC and check that the dots are lined up, my guess is they are not, also make sure you have the valves adjusted right, to much lash will bypass the easystart on the cam and make it hard to pull
 
If you aligned the dots back up before putting the sidecover back on, maybe you got it one notch out of line to one way or the other and that is the cause of your problems. It is easy to get it just a hair off if you arent paying attention or are in a hurry. If the dots are aligned properly, i would agree with the post above to reset your valve lash. Better to have the exhaust lash a little loose than too tight, in my opinion.
 
If you've got the cam lined up dot to dot, did the lifters fall out to ? if so maybe the push rods came out of the lifters and the rocker arms. Did you pull the valve cover to ?
 
I would guess valve cover has not been off and rocker arm(s) are misplaced. It will be almost impossible to pull.
 
Lol i was referring to it being a tooth off, some of us country folks have sayings that others will never really understand i guess.

I am curious though, which way was it off, to the left or the right? Iv always wondered how one of these engines would act or run with the cam gear a tooth or 2 advanced or retarded, but figured it wouldnt even run so i never tried it. If the engines dont even want to start with the cam one tooth off, can someone shed some light on why we hear about guys twisting the cams? I have heard this before and it made no sense to me, i dont see how someone even can twist a cam...
 

Lets do the math and see exactly what a "hair" is equal to in degrees. There are 48 teeth on the cam gear. The camshaft turns at half speed relative to the crankshaft .... so for every revolution of the crankshaft (360 degrees of rotation) the camshaft turns 1/2 revolution, or 180 degrees, or 24 teeth on the cam gear ..... 360 degrees / 24 teeth = 15 degrees per tooth. So for each tooth that you are off on the alignment marks you change the valve timing events by 15 degrees of crankshaft rotation ... that’s a pretty thick “hair” !!




... can someone shed some light on why we hear about guys twisting the cams? I have heard this before and it made no sense to me, i dont see how someone even can twist a cam...

When you twist a cam you are trying to change, advance or retard, the individual lobe centerlines, or change the lobe separation angle. Also you are generally working with a small incremental change .. 2 to 4 degrees .... not the 15 degrees that a 1 tooth cam gear misalignment would give you.. Cam twisting is as much an art as it is a science ... you have to have the proper equipment (fixtures), the experience and the “touch” to successfully twist a cam.


 
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Or when moving the crankshaft gear it usually is never more than 3* although in the past we used to move GX160 gears 4-5* depending on the generation of the engine.

I have repaired non starting engines for others that had the cam installed out of time, one tooth will give you a no start situation, backfires and arm wrenching, pull cord breaking etc.
 
It would crank a tooth off tho, IMO

That would depend on the particular cam and whether it was advanced or retarded by one tooth ... I would think you would have an extremely difficult time starting a clone engine that was retarded by an additional 15 degrees over what was already designed in the cam.
 
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