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Well I installed my cam today. Went pretty much as expected. The original timing chain had a surprising amount of slack in it for a motor with only 52k on it, so it's a good thing I decided to replace it. I also replaced the O-ring on the oil pump drive, the front crank oil seal, and of course the other necessary gaskets. Still have the heads off though. I'll be switching the valve springs and retainers tommorrow and putting them on, then it's time to reset the valve lash on all the rockers (fun).
Here's the funny part. According to my manual, with the crank timing mark lined up with the tab on the timing chain damper, the cam sprocket should be installed with it's timing mark straight down lined up with the other tab on the damper. This puts pistons 1 and 4 at TDC, and the cam lobs with #1 about to start the intake stroke, and #4 at the end of it's compression stroke and about to fire. When I took the cam sprocket off though (the way it came from the factory) the mark was straight up at the top. This reversed what the cylinders were doing. Obviously the engine still ran, as 1 and 4 are on the same coil pack and fire at the same time, or twice per combustion cycle (this is called a waste spark system I think?)... but I wonder if it might not have had some adverse affect of the engines hp since a different cylinder was firing all the time than the one the pcm thought was firing? Probably not but, you never now. Any thoughts on this?
Some other random observations. This new cam weighs a ton compared to the stock one since it's not hollow. I don't know why they didn't bore it out. I don't think I need to worry about the fact I got a light weight crank pulley though because this thing makes up for it, sheesh. Also, the '03 cam sensor has the plug built into the top of it instead of having a wire lead to the plug like the '00-'02 sensor. I'm gonna try unwrapping the injector harness and re-routing the cam sensor wires so they'll reach. Also I guess a couple of the pin positions changed so I need to switch a couple wires in the plug. Then we'll see if my pcm likes the signal or if I'll have to re-program.
Here's the funny part. According to my manual, with the crank timing mark lined up with the tab on the timing chain damper, the cam sprocket should be installed with it's timing mark straight down lined up with the other tab on the damper. This puts pistons 1 and 4 at TDC, and the cam lobs with #1 about to start the intake stroke, and #4 at the end of it's compression stroke and about to fire. When I took the cam sprocket off though (the way it came from the factory) the mark was straight up at the top. This reversed what the cylinders were doing. Obviously the engine still ran, as 1 and 4 are on the same coil pack and fire at the same time, or twice per combustion cycle (this is called a waste spark system I think?)... but I wonder if it might not have had some adverse affect of the engines hp since a different cylinder was firing all the time than the one the pcm thought was firing? Probably not but, you never now. Any thoughts on this?
Some other random observations. This new cam weighs a ton compared to the stock one since it's not hollow. I don't know why they didn't bore it out. I don't think I need to worry about the fact I got a light weight crank pulley though because this thing makes up for it, sheesh. Also, the '03 cam sensor has the plug built into the top of it instead of having a wire lead to the plug like the '00-'02 sensor. I'm gonna try unwrapping the injector harness and re-routing the cam sensor wires so they'll reach. Also I guess a couple of the pin positions changed so I need to switch a couple wires in the plug. Then we'll see if my pcm likes the signal or if I'll have to re-program.
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