SR20 Mechanical Timing Issues - HELP!

[stancebucket]

Hey zilvia -

I'm trying to wrap up my engine rebuild, at this point I'm in the middle of installing my cams. Intake cam went on effortlessly, lined the key up at 10 o'clock, torqued it down, done. The exhaust cam on the other hand is being a PITA. With the key lined up at 12 o'clock, the cam won't sit flush in the journals! The cam has to be turned back to 11 o'clock so that it will sit flush. So I decided to say screw it, I'll torque it down and line it up after, right? Wrong. When torqued down, and lined up, the exhaust valve on cyl #2 is open! Correct me if I'm wrong, but at perfect TDC I thought all valves were supposed to be closed? Also as soon as I take the wrench off, the bitch just spins back to 11 o'clock. If I turn it a little past 12 o'clock, it jumps forward too far. This is with both the timing chain and sprockets OFF the cams

At this point I'm paranoid the timing will be off. Is cyl #2 supposed to be open? my FSM is surprisingly very vague. Instructions read:
"Install cams, install caps, install oil squirters, torque procedure." :picardfp:
All help is greatly appreciated. I just want to be sure I'm doing everything right. Thanks.

[cotbu]

No, not all of the valves are closed at TDC. The lobes would have to be <○> for every rocker on both cams for that to happen.

Take the chain tensioner and the Cas out! Bolt the cam gears on the cams shafts. Checking: If you have both cams out and spark plugs removed, hold the chain in the air and crank the engine with a ratchet, verify the chain is not binding. Take the intake cam and set it in the journals, making sure the cam is sitting correctly in the #1 journal, either line up the dots with the links or make sure the lobe is pointing outwards <○ then follow the fsm procedure for tightening.

Install the exhaust cam the same way with the lobes pointing out or with the links on the dot. To verify the chain is on correctly count from 1 dot to the next. ●□□□□□□□□□● with the exhaust cam, sitting correctly in the #1 journal, follow the fsm procedure for tightening, the install the tensioner, rotate the engine clockwise. If the tensioner doesn't release? Crank the engine counterclockwise, a few ratchet clicks. Then set the engine back to TDC, install the Cas. If you do this correctly, and this is all that is left to do? Your engine will start.

From a Highly Tuned Note 4.5!!!

[cotbu]

11 links dot to dot

From a Highly Tuned Note 4.5!!!