So putting an engine back together all the books say aligning the cam and crank gears just line up the 2 dots on the crank and put the 1 dot on the cam between them. Is mine the only crank gear with no markings? The 1 dot is there on the cam gear, but nothing on the crank. How can you align the gears? Can it be done accurately? Any help would be great.

Weird question but is it possible that the crank gear is on backwards?
but if its got no marks on it id just buy new gears.

The dot on the crank gear is indexed from the keyway.

I have pics at home. If you can get a pic of a gear with the dot that shows the keyway, you can just count teeth.

But my first thought was also that you might have the gear on backwards.

Unless you are running straight cut gears the teeth would not align if the crank gear were on backwards.

No marks on either side. Is there anyway to align the gears without the marks?

Here are some pics of an old toasted crank from a 1.8 motor.

I marked the keyway gear tooth (valley) that lines up with the keyway (@90 deg - 3-oclock) with white paint.
I marked the two camshaft alignment dots ( close to 180 degrees from keyway @~275degrees - 9:20oclock) with white soapstone.


From these you can see that the dots are to either side of the gear valley that is13 counter-clockwise from the valley at the key.
Or 15 clockwise from the valley at the key.

In this one you can barely see the keyway below the white marking on the gear.






HTH



I believe that you can flip the gear and the teeth will be aligned the same way.
But you might not be able to see the dots any longer.

IIRC, and I don't have a gear here to look at, there's a relief cut in the inner diameter of the gear to clear the radius on the crank. Putting the gear on backwards should prevent it from fully seating, and that would prevent the snap ring from entering the groove in the crank.

The Cap'n

Thanks the pics are great that will get me going!

Sean

If there are no dots, could the gear be the wrong gear? Maybe one from some other application that (mostly) fits? Does it have the right number of teeth?

--DD

I had a bad gear on my crankshaft (and a bad crankshaft). I would make sure that it has the right amount of teeth, but for your trouble it might be safer to just replace it. You can do it pretty easily with a 3 jaw puller and a plumbers torch
Part# 021 105 209 A (I got mine from Parts Heaven).

http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?s=&...t&p=1849695

Funny last time I did that I put my 3 jaw puller on it and torqued it to as much as I felt comfortable with (2 grunts & a fart).

Then I heated the gear carefully with a torch.
Just as I thought it wasnt going to come loose....BAM!!!

The puller and gear flew off and up in the air at least 3 feet.
I need to get a real press....

Exactly, step back and let the puller do its work, just make sure nothing breakable is nearby.

How many teeth?

28

Or do you mean broken teeth when it came off?