Hi Just building up my new engine and getting very confused by the advice in my 'How to rebuild your Air Cooled Engine' book. The relevant para says(after dropping in the crank whilst No. 1 is at TDC: "The distributor rotor should be aligned with the mark on the distributor body. At the same time the timing marks on the crankshaft's timing gear, two punched dots, should be aligned with the case parting line. They should face the bottom of the case, towards the camshaft" Further on, when you drop the camshaft in, these two marks will straddle a timing mark on the camshaft gear. Those two marks should align with NO1 at TDC and the dizzy rotor pointing the right way I understand the theory but when I drop the crankshaft in, the timing marks on the crankshaft are not aligned with the case parting line and are nowhere near the camshaft - they are at the bottom of the engine as per the pic below. I know No.1 is at TDC because that's the longest conrod coming out of the case and I know the timing gear on the crankshaft has a fixed position on the shaft due to a woodruff key so what is right? Thanks for your help
Ignore the book... It's wrong... I just double checked a crank and your crank is fine At the point that you are at, you can install the dizzy and drive, then rotate the crank a little so you can align and install the cam
Thanks Paul Yes I assumed the book was wrong and carried on as there's no logical way it could have been right.
