Phil and group,


Well.... I pulled the timing cover and found a steel crank gear as well as a steel cam gear. I've have since bought a new gear set with a fiber cam gear and new steel crank gear and was going to install it this morning. After pulling the cam nut on the existing steel cam timing gear I noticed a few things that didn't add up to me. It's been a while since I've played garage mechanic but let me run this by the group and tell me if I'm crazy....

Remember, the engine runs great, except for this knock/noise.

The marks on the cam gear and the crank gear line up when the #4 cylinder is ATDC.

If the firing order on this B20B is 1342 with # 1 at the front of the block or closest to the radiator, which I would assume it is, the timing gears line up with their marks w/#4 ATDC.

When I rotate the engine to show that the distributor rotor is firing on #1, and the valves are both closed, the crank gear mark is where it should be but the cam gear mark is 180 degrees away or exactly opposite of where it should be. Additionally, the marking on the distributer housing indicating #1 is lining up when the rotor is pointing to number 3........ I don't get it... how is this engine running?

My simple question is the firing order and location of # 1. Without at manual, one has been ordered, I'm only guessing that # 1 is at the fron of the car. Is it? If it's at the rear, I still have a distributor issue but I can't understand how the engine can be running well with all of these timing issues??? Perhaps the noise is one of the pistons hitting a valve but that wouldn't last long......

Since I first wrote I have learned a few more thing about the car. The engine is a B20B mated to a M40G trans with a J overdrive unit. The OD works in all gears, which is a tad scary because the switch is incorperated in the turnsignal switch which may have either been a high/low flasher or the power window washer pump acuator.

Thanks, Bill