Jump to content
SAU Community

Recommended Posts

Hey guys,

I know this has been said to death about how to setup timing and all that, searched around and found a lot of info, but nothing definitive to this question i have.

Doing a 100k service, timing belt etc on my RB25 NEO. Upon taking the covers off and winding the engine over clockwise many times and double, triple and quadruple checking the timing marks, it would seem the exhaust cam gear is out by 1 tooth in the clockwise direction (i think advanced?).

I haven't taken the belt off or anything as yet, trying to make sure I get it all spot on when putting back together.

Is this a trick that some tuner has done for more power? The car has some odd daughter board in the ECU and was "tuned" by Dr Drift. Could they have done this to improve something? Should i put it back the same way?

Thanks, Kurt.

Link to comment
https://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/456822-rb25-neo-exhaust-cam-gear-question/
Share on other sites

Here are some close up images with the stock belt still on. Haven't removed tensioner at all, this is how it was when I took the timing cover off.

Surely this isn't the right thing to have done, every thread i read suggests that 1 tooth is far to much to be of use and actually will kill engine power.

Inlet and Crank line up perfectly.

post-89402-0-76445100-1432224396_thumb.jpg

post-89402-0-55244800-1432224398_thumb.jpg

post-89402-0-01492000-1432224400_thumb.jpg

I suggest - buy ebay adjustable cam gear, the type with the steel outer gear not aluminium, install on exhaust cam. Adjust to stock position, see if it runs better or worser. Move back to 1 degree out if needed, or tune further to get max power. Problem solved for $80-90 and tuneability of engine increased.

One tooth on a cam wheel equates to 15 degrees on the crank.

Usual IGN static timing is 15 degree BTDC and has the CAS sitting pretty central in the slots.

Yours looks slightly retarded, perhaps compensating for the advance on the exhaust cam but one would need a timing light on it to be positive.

If the cam wheel had been set up a tooth retarded, there may have been a plan to bring boost on earlier or such, but set up a tooth advanced looks like a mistake to me.

  • Like 1

Yeah it's a real strange one. I have a timing light so that is no problem to check after. I've sourced an adjustable cam gear so i'll pop that in with it set to 0.. install the CAS at the same mark and see what it times at and adjust to 15 degrees if it's out. Would still love to know if it was a mistake or not... as you said, everything points to retarding it for any purpose.. but not advancing.

Unless you're going to degree the cam wheel I wouldn't bother with an adjustable wheel.

There's not much chance the marks on the adjustable wheel are going to be accurate enough to prove the point.

Handy if you decide to play with exhaust valve timing but you've also got the inlet to think about….too much hassle for me.

Well you have a point. We know that the timing should be on the mark, so really, i should just put it back on that marker. Also most people suggest that the NEO doesn't do much outside of the 0 mark anyway, so having the gear would be pointless? Ahh I dunno what to do now haha! I don't think the adjustable gear (Tomei) would give me enough adjustment anyway to go back to "one tooth out" would it?

Well i don't know what to do. The right thing to do is put it at the right marker. It is supposed to be on that really. From what i've read, i cannot see why anyone would want to advance the exhaust on a NEO by that much. Most say they lost significant power when adjusted outside of 0.

Completely stock. This looks like the first major service it's had in a long time. Certainly hasn't had any "engine work" as such. I just hope there hasn't been some drastic adjustments made in the ECU with the daughter board it has. Doubtful though as it seems to be a pretty basic chip anyway.

  • 5 months later...

Hi bro, just seeing how things went and did u need to set it out by 1 tooth again as I'very just changed all mine and yep 1 out so I set it all up correct and now runs like a bitch. Did yours do same thing? Cheers and I will look forward to your reply. Mick.

Hey Mick,

I haven't got around to getting the car finished yet, still waiting on a new CAS and then it should be good to go.

Strange that your having issues. What exactly is yours doing that is bad? The service manual suggests having the gear line up dead on the marks, and so do the opinions here, makes sense really, i don't know why it would ever need to be 1 tooth more and that info is not in the service manuals.

Hi bro, yeah mine was 1 tooth out on the exhaust side and now that I've lined all timing marks and put new belt on its holding back power a he'll of a lot and when I change into second gear it shoots a flame and just wants to die at times. I have a nistune board on the ecu (daughter board) like you. I'm thinking of putting it back to a tooth out again or leave it and see if a shop can fix it on a dyno tune and remap ect. It's doing my head in bad. Hopefully someone can help.. I will let ya know how things pan out. cheers talk soon.

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now


  • Similar Content

  • Latest Posts

    • It would be different if the sealant hadn't started to peel up with gaps in the glue about ~6cm and bigger in some areas. I would much prefer not having to do the work take them off the car . However, the filler the owner put in the roof rack mount cavities has shrunk and begun to crack on the rail delete panels. I cant trust that to hold off moisture ingress especially where I live. Not only that but I have faded paint on as well as on either side of these panels, so they would need to come off to give the roofline a proper respray. My goal is to get in there and put a healthy amount of epoxy instead of panel filler/bog and potentially skin with carbon fiber. I have 2 spare rolls from an old motorcycle fairing project from a few years back and I think it'd be a nice touch on a black stag.  I've seen some threads where people replace their roof rack delete with a welded in sheet metal part. But has anyone re-worked the roof rails themselves? It seems like there is a lot of volume there to add in some threads and maybe a keyway for a quick(er) release roof rack system. Not afraid to mill something out if I have to. It would be cool to have a cross bar only setup. That way I can keep the sleek roofline that would accept a couple bolts to gain back that extra utility  3D print some snazzy covers to hide the threaded section to be thorough and keep things covered when not using the rack. 
    • Probably not. A workshop grade scantool is my go to for proper Consult interrogation. Any workshop grade tool should do it. Just go to a workshop.
    • In my head it does make sense to be a fuel problem since that is what I touched when cleaning the system. When I was testing with the fuel pressure gauge, the pressure was constantly 2.5 bar with the FPR vacuum removed. When stalling, the pressure was going up to 3.0 bar (which is how it should be on ignition).
    • ECUtalk pages don't mention they support the ABS computer (consult port has more than one CAN), so you might just need a different scan tool. But, I would expect ABS is a different light to the brake warning/handbrake light, do you see an ABS light come on for a few seconds when you turn the key from ACC to IGN? But since you said: I'd have a look at the ABS sensors in the rear hubs to make sure they are not damaged, disconnected etc.
    • OK, if it idles at 1000+ with the AAC, its not an idle airflow problem. The cold start valve just gives extra air when the engine is cold, but you have enough air without it to idle at 1000. I think you are back to a fuel problem, sorry. Can you see the fuel pressure staying constant or does it drop as the revs drop to a stall?  
×
×
  • Create New...