i just rebuilt an engine in a 87 subaru GL wagon an i got it all down to the belts, the book is NO help. i set the fly wheel to the middle of the 3 little marks then set both cam to the top mark on the housing, but that didnt look right as too what i remembered when i tore it down. what is the propper way to do it? first time ever working on a subaru was kinda weird, usually i just set the crank to 0TDC the set the cam to #1 TDC but this is totally weird kind seems like i'd set the crank to the marks, then do the driver side, rotate 180 then do the pass, then set the crank to 0TDC and put in the dizzy? am i close?

i just rebuilt an engine in a 87 subaru GL wagon an i got it all down to the belts, the book is NO help. i set the fly wheel to the middle of the 3 little marks then set both cam to the top mark on the housing, but that didnt look right as too what i remembered when i tore it down. what is the propper way to do it? first time ever working on a subaru was kinda weird, usually i just set the crank to 0TDC the set the cam to #1 TDC but this is totally weird kind seems like i'd set the crank to the marks, then do the driver side, rotate 180 then do the pass, then set the crank to 0TDC and put in the dizzy? am i close?

 

Yeah, you did it wrong. This is how its done...

http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=50768

Belts go on, with one Cam pulley mark up, the other one down. Easy way is to rotate the flywheel after putting the drivers side on (pointed up) thenafter rotating the crank once it will be down, and you install passenger belt with the dot up.

 

This in the end will leave you with both Cam pulley marks opposite of eachother.

what you are speculating is correct. right now the one cam is out of phase.

 

if you are reading the haynes book, the procedure is correct in the text, but the illustrations do not demonstrate the 360 crank rotation between cams. iot foils everyone!

thank you for your help i timed it like this before i dropped it in then i got it all together and its firing out the carb? i dont get it i did it EXACTLY like the write up said, is there anyway to get it off 180 doing it like that? i have no idea what to try any suggestions?

if you pulled the distributor out, it's probably not installed correctly. never pull that thing out unless absolutely necessary.

 

are you sure you're using the right marks on the flywheel/cam sprockets? (sounds like you are, just checking).

yeah thats what i dont get it sounds like it should have fired right off, i had to take the distributer out because i had to rebuild the whole thing the rings went out and i had 4 stuck valves. and in doing it this way i checked the distributer like 4 times to see if it was off and it was always pointing at #1, but the thing i dont get is why it going out thru the carb? dosent really sound like theres that much that can be wrong if done that way, i've thought of everything but it always leads back to be exactly the same

i know it said to rotate the crank 360 and then drop in the dist. BUT.. it didnt say to line it up with #1? is that where i'm wrong? should i have line it up with something else?

ah carb - there's your problem! joking aside....

 

i wouldn't be surprised if the disty is off, it's very easy to get those wrong. folks are always having problems and getting them off.

 

since this is getting unsure quickly - let's start with the basics:

 

have you checked for spark at each cylinder?

is the engine definitely getting gas?

 

any check engine lights....hmm...carbed so it probably doesn't have check engine lights unless it's the one oddball 87 engine that has both carb and funky ECU or something or another?

 

what leads you to believe this is a timing issue if you just got done rebuilding the engine?

Once you have the belts installed correctly, crank the engine by hand until the passenger cam dot as at 10:30 o'clock (or, 45* CCW of Straight up). Now install the distributor pointing to the #1 plug.

 

-Dave