KA24E cam timing help!!

[SR20-S14]

So i am swapping my hardbody cam out for a 240sx cam and i pulled rocker arms and everything, zip tied the cam gear too the chain and pulled it all out. now i am putting it back together and when i go to put the cam gear on the camshaft its nowhere close to going on. I figured it had a pin on the crank gear so that the chain can't jump timing, like the SR. but my tensioner also looks like it is pushed out quite a bit. so does the tensioner just have to be compressed or is it possible for my chain to have jumped timming. Please help ! thanks

[Memberofthe600hpkaclub]

Crank at 12 cam at 12 can't mess it up

[SR20-S14]

I can't get to the crank, the motor is in the truck, i just have the valve cover off. anyways i can see that the tensioner slipped out.. so how do i compress it ?

[Ponda]

IIRC - you should be able to compress it pretty easily with a flathead or something.

I always zip tie the chain to the cam gear AND jam something down in the timing cover to keep pressure on the chain. It's super easy to slip off the crank gear and mess up your engine timing if you don't.

You need to find TDC on your crank and then find TDC on your cam gear. I believe the keyway should be pointing at 12 o' clock - relative to the head...not the earth. Like so...

http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRlxysk-sPiiR9Tb5bbbrrTFLIRtPJFPPC5DHiQiHMwFLTcfivMC9Z-OY-M