checking valves holy crap

[xcracer416]

well i decided to check my valves tonight since they have about 30 hours since they was last checked. Dealership has been doing it, but since i am a mechanic i decided since times are tough ill go ahead and do them myself. I went by the service manual and found a problem. i took out my spark plug and the plug on the side cover, i pushed the kick starter down just a fraction to see which way the engine turned. after i lined up the dot on the crank with the little arrow, and seen my cam lobes was pointed towards the back i knew the engine was at tdc. I checked my cam sprocket and noticed that the gear was one tooth off from the indicator. has anyone seen this with a bone stock engine? im gonna loosen the tension off the cam chain and rotate the gear back one tooth if you guys think it would be a good idea. I have raced this quad about 4 times since the last time they was checked, and havent had the first issue with the engine performance. It has always started on first or second kick, runs like a raped ape. timing chain has not made the first amount of noise, i cant figure out what could have caused this. i did take the plug out of the stator cover also and noticed that if i line a mark up(paint on the mark) on the flywheel, with the indention on the side cover my cam sproket lines up then, but not with the actual timing marks.

[MossboysRacing]

yea i think i know what you are talking about. i ran into this a few times checking my valves. when you go to re-time the engine, make sure you are on TDC(piston at top,dot aligned with arrow in side cover and cam lobes back) put the cam gear in the chain and line up the holes, start one bolt. now check the marking on the gear compared to the arrow on the cam housing. sometimes it can be just a hair off. i actually have done this and seemed like it had no effect on the engine performance. i noticed this last time i reshimmed my valves. if you do have this if you loosen the cam chain and rotate the cam gear 180 degrees( basically using the opposite bolt hole as the one you started,not moving the cam or the lower timing marks. you are moving the gear inside the chain.) this should line up the timing mark perfectly on gear to cam housing marks. just double check all of the timing marks before you are ready to put it all back together. i think the marks on the flywheel are the ignition timing, you dont want those. the engine timing is done off of the right side cover plug. the big allen wrench plug. there is a little arrow(triangle) on the cover and you line it up with the dot under the plug on the gear. just make positive sure every thing is at TDC. hope this helps.jeff