JimX

Wow, it doesn't know how fast you're going so it decides to steer at random intervals! Nice safety measure there Nissan! The first thing I would do is check the wiring loom connection to the ECU in the kick panel and also the connection to the HICAS controller under the rear parcel shelf. Maybe one of them is a bit loose and not making full contact. I don't think it's related to your d/c of the battery though, it sounds like coincidence.

It won't be worthwhile to my wallet!

20 minutes on your first attempt and when you didn't know what you were doing? If I got myself a 27mm socket and rushed it I'm sure I could do it in 20 minutes too now

How do you dial a cam in? Is there a level of adjustment between the cam and the lug that the cam wheel sits on? Where exactly does the dial sit and how does it measure what angle the cam is at? These are things I've wondered for a long time but before now couldn't be bothered learning. Installing your own cam wheels piques your curiosity

Commodore rims don't fit Skylines though do they? I thought our stud pattern matches Falcon rims.

Like Joel I had my exhaust cam wheel one tooth off and idle was completely normal, and there was no missing even in upper revs. The car just died in the arse power-wise above 4000rpm (so it must have been the opposite direction to Joel). Being one tooth off isn't a guaranteed way to make the engine miss, although I'm sure it's possible. Look for other things too.

More than a few people would disagree with you there. Also, I (and many other people) don't have a Nissan ECU.

Hehe, got $160?

Oh yeah, I'd like to add in my own notes as well. Firstly, if you don't have a 27mm socket, you *can* crank the engine over with the starter motor to get it to TDC. But you have to be more lucky than skillful, so make sure you have a fully charged battery. I also imagine it's not very good for your starter motor or battery, but hopefully it's not something you have to do very often. Just "tapping" the key will spin the crank around 30-40 degrees, so it's pretty hard to do minor adjustments. Secondly, be careful when putting the CAS back on. I used the bolts to "pull" the CAS onto the bracket, and I ended up snapping a bolt and breaking the mounting bracket! A replacement was $25 from Just Jap. I later discovered that the best way to do it is to tighten up everything as far as it'll go without forcing it, then spinning the engine. This will pull the CAS into the bracket and you can then tighten the bolts properly without forcing it. A bit of grease between the CAS and bracket also helps. Thirdly, I would either adjust the cam after the wheel is put on at zero degrees, or rotate the cam rather than the crank, if you don't have a 27mm socket to rotate it (ie, this would make rotating the crank impossible). It's fairly easy to tap the cam to the desired angle once it's on so my preference is to adjust it once everything's on. Lastly, BE VERY CAREFUL around the exposed crank pulley cover. At one point I thought I'd dropped an allen key down into there, and I nearly had a heart attack. I tried pulling the cover off but could only get to one bolt, and I didn't have any magnetic probe things to fish around. I then thought about the noise it made when it fell, it was more plasticky than metallic, and after another brief search I found it on the radiator shroud. But after that I was 100 times more careful of dropping things down there so it was a good lesson learned. Anyone else that's contemplating it but isn't sure, I say go for it. Just learn from the hard lessons I learned so you should be able to get it first go without stuffing up. I think I could do it in under an hour next time, so I'm not sure why most workshops quote around 2 hours. Jay can do 2 in 3 hours with pizza in the middle, so an hour seems about right for us Mr Averages Even though because of all the setbacks I had and mistakes I did it took over 3 hours over a couple of days, I saved $160 (workshop price quote) which is more than I get paid at work anyway. I also learned a hell of a lot of stuff so I could do it again much more easily, and I just feel a lot smarter in general for it.

Jay, using base PowerFC map for now. Gary, running 4 degrees (2 notches) retard as far as I can tell. Once everything is in, I tapped the cam anti-clockwise to the desired notch. This is retard isn't it? I didn't confirm the timing with a timing light, because this was Yet Another Half-Arsed Job By JimX. (YAHAJBJ for short). I just used the PowerFC readout of the ignition advance at idle. I do have a timing light, but I haven't tried it yet. I'm not sure if it's sensitive enough to work off that white wire loop but I'll give it a go. So what do you think I should do? Set the 4 degrees back on and set the timing to say 15 degrees? Is the base PowerFC map going to cope?

Oh great now you tell me, I coulda saved $175 and a lot of stuffing around! Everyone else seems to be getting good results with 3 or 4 degrees retard. If mine is going to be fine on 0 then I may as well put the original gear back and sell the Apexi one.

Should I be using the standard 15 degrees for best economy? At the moment I'm after optimal economy rather than optimal power, as I'm going on a long trip up north over Christmas. This is just a temporary measure until I get the PowerFC tuned early next year, I just want to save some bucks on fuel until then.

Back onto the original question - I just tried 3 and 4 degrees on my adjustable cam gear and the car and the car ran noticably worse than 0 degrees both times. I'm not 100% sure it's because the PowerFC wasn't coping, because it could have just been maxing out the AFM a lot easier. I did get the warning light a couple of times, but I get it at 0 degrees too so who knows.

Yay! Finally got everything back together in the right place. The exhaust cam was only one tooth off, and the inlet cam as I suspected was all ok. I'm getting to be an expert at this now, it didn't take long at all to get everything off and adjust it all. It took about 5 minutes of tapping the starter until I got TDC up though. So, after all this, I'm .... right back where I started. I tried 3 and 4 degrees, and neither of them worked very well. So I put it back to zero! I'm sure this is only because the PowerFC needs to be tuned for it, and also my injectors and AFM upgraded. They'll be done along with the tune, so it should all be ok from there. Before I take it in, I'm going to ask the shop if I should set it to 3 or 4 degrees just to save them some effort (and me some money).

Thanks for the pics, they help heaps. Also thanks for mentioning that it's the left mark I'm lining up and not the middle one. What are the other 2 marks for then? I think it'll be ok from here. Except I have to work until 6 today, argh! I just wanna get home and get it all fixed up and go for a hoon

I actually have no idea of where the inlet cam dot was when I lined up the exhaust. Thus my main failing I guess, when I realised I bumped the inlet cam and had to guess where it came from. I'm pretty sure that the inlet is back where it came from but tonight I'll make sure. The exhaust cam went on the correct way, because I took note of where the dot was on the original wheel. I thought it *might* have been 180 degrees out, but I'm now absolutely sure it wasn't. I think I would have bent some valves by now if it was. This has been a big learning experience for me. One other thing I've learned is that it's easier to adjust the wheel once it's on, because it's harder to line things up when the wheel is off by 1-2 degrees. It's harder to see the numbers when the wheel is on but using a mirror it's easy to line it up as precisely as when it's off.

I cranked the engine over until the dot on the exhaust cam was at 12 o'clock and lined it up from there. In the process I accidentally nudged the inlet cam slightly, which was the beginning of my problems. After I put it back to where I thought it was, the exhaust cam didn't line up properly, so again I had to take a stab at it. It was all only off by 0-2 teeth on the belt at maximum, which is less than the range of the adjustment on the wheel so I was confident I wasn't going to bend any valves.

Even though I already asked about this in my cam adjustment thread (and answered it), I thought I would put the info here in a separate thread as well, in case anyone searches for the info in future. The story I've been told is that there are 2 marks on the plate behind the cam wheels, where the dots should line up when the crank is at TDC. I'm going to take another look at my engine tonight and see if I can find the lines, and I'll post photos if it's at all useful.

I just spoke to Marcus from Hills Motorsports, and he said that there are 2 marks on the plate behind the cam wheels where the dots are meant to line up when the crank is at TDC. I'll take another look when I get home tonight. If that's the case then I've nfi why I didn't notice them before. Maybe they're just covered in dirt

I can get the dots roughly into that position, but it's still going to be 1-2 teeth on the belt out I think, because I can't get it lined up that precisely. Also, I still haven't found the TDC mark on the crank. I'll have another look with the cams in roughly those positions I guess, maybe that will make it easier.

Ok so I've stuffed up the cam alignment when putting my adjustable cam gear on. Does anyone know how the dots line up? Like, are they both meant to be up the top at TDC or something? Also, where is the mark on the crank for TDC, as I can't seem to find it.

I can get it to TDC by cranking the engine a split second at a time Where is the mark for TDC on the crank anyway? I went off the top of the exhaust cam wheel dot when lining it up earlier, but obviously I can't go by that now because it's out by a few degrees. And it was probably not TDC either. I know the belt location isn't important, but if you move the cam more than one belt tooth's width, the cam wheel will go on in the exact same spot but the cam will be a few degrees out. So basically, where should all the dots be when the crank at TDC? If I can find TDC on the crank and know where the dots on the cam wheels should be I should be able to work it out. I just checked then, when the inlet cam dot is at the top the exhaust is way off to one side. How are they meant to line up?

Ok, I've definitely misaligned at least one of the cams, possibly both. Are there any marks I can line up on them to put it back to normal? I'm at most one tooth out on the inlet (but I'm tending towards it being ok), and definitely 1 or 2 on the exhaust. I know that I'm 1-2 out on the exhaust because the car still ran like a dog when I put the adjustment back to 0. So I tried moving the exhaust cam one belt notch in the opposite direction to what I thought it was out in, but that didn't fix it. I wouldn't say it made it worse, but it made the problem slightly different. Which is why I think the inlet might also be out. If there are no marks I can use to bring it back to normal, I think I'll take it to the mechanics sometime during the week

Right, I've done it! I had to kind of "squeeze" the wheel onto the mounting with the bolts, if that makes sense. I couldn't just push it but I got it really close and gently tightening the bolts on pushed it on. I had a heart attack when I accidentally moved the inlet cam at one point! But it was only a millimetere or 2, less than the width of one tooth on the belt. So I very carefully put it back from whence it came. At least I think I did. I tested cranking the engine before running it, to make sure valves weren't bouncing off the pistons. It all sounded good. The car doesn't run too well in upper revs. I don't know if this because I screwed up the location of the cams, or if it just needs a tune. It does seem to run better at lower revs though so fingers crossed it's all ok. If not then the mechanics will have to re-do everything, so I may as well have not bothered. If it just needs to be tuned, then I've saved around $160.

Probably because it had been stolen in the past and the owner didn't want it stolen again so he glued/welded it on. They cost around $175 for the titanium one.