Hi, i am doing the timing on my 95 trident and I have noticed that when the timing mark was at T1 the cam shaft sprockets timing arrows did not face towards each other, can the sprockets end up being bolted the wrong way round? They are using the correct bolt holes but could they be 180degrees wrong so the arrows faced out instead? I want to put the shaft on the correct way round when i rebuild so is there any way of Knowing how the cam shaft lobes should be sitting when all the marks are lined up properly? Sorry if that description is rubbish or hard to understand. thanks
Your description is clear enough! The arrows should point at one another. It may not be spot on but ‘near enough ‘. Cam chain wear can be an issue if it has done plenty thousand miles. The arrows should be visible looking at the side of the engine, not from an overhead view inside the camshaft area. Have you transposed sprockets between cams as well as maybe flipping them?
The bike has a chequered history and I’ve be rebuilding it after it has been sat for 10 years or so, partially rebuilt and then sat again. As there was no history I thought I’d do the cam spacings. I think I may have solved it, apparently the cam sprockets turn slower than the crank shaft so don’t always line up despite the T1 marking being lined up. So 1 more turn on the crank should sort it out. I guess as long as cylinder 1 is at top dead, I can reinstate with cams with the arrows lined up and it should be sorted. I was concerned that someone else had put the sprockets on the wrong way round.
On a 4 stroke your cams go exactly twice the speed of the crankshaft. They should match exactly or suck, squeeze, bang, blow will be wheeze, cough, fart’n’shart...... and in an overlap engine where valves occupy the same space as the pistons it is cam timing that avoids a terminal collision.......... TDC on No 1 cylinder at the end of the compression stroke has both valves closed on the heel of the lobe and with the exhaust valve opening as the piston starts to rise again.
I think the cams must go half the speed not twice the speed as the cam sprockets are much bigger than the crank shaft sprocket.
Richard Sharp Have a chat with our Ron. He has been working on Scarlet his speed triple and they pretty much shar the same heart. Happy New Year. Joe.
