shaved head=modded timing belt???

[jesse0880]

i had my 3sgte head shaved for my rebuild, but now the timing marks don't line up (the cams line up, but the timing pulley sits to the right of TDC by about 2 dgrees. and the stock timing belt that i'm using is getting chewed up during rotation. also, i pulled the plugs and #4 is black and the other 3 have a normal operating look. did comp test and its 150 all the way across. soooo... i was told that if i shaved the head and used the stock size head gasket, this might be the cause. any opinion's???

[MR2Jedi]

I doubt they could shave enough off your head to make a difference with the timing belt . I would think the tensioner would easily take up the minute slack.

[GeoffBooth]

What you are saying defies logic unless the timing belt is bad. #4 playing up could be any number of things.

[MR2Jedi]

Are you sure you replaced the washer behind the #1 idler pulley? That can cause the belt to "walk" inwards and get chewed up.
As far as being off 2 degrees, I would say you just need to re-do the timing. I almost always have to do it a second time to get it right..

[Jeff Lange]

Shaving the head can cause timing issues, but usually not as noticeable as you're seeing. Maybe if they shaved a significant amount off of the block and the head, maybe.

If everything else is correct as far as pulleys and timing belt installation, really the only way to solve the timing issue would be to get adjustable cam gears and degree them.

If your timing belt is getting chewed up though, sounds like there's probably a problem other than just a shaved head.

The timing would not cause any differences in spark plugs though, they would all look the same.

Jeff