cam gear: the cross-cut gear that drives the dizzy, on the camshaft
cam sprocket: the big sprocket on the camshaft that holds the chain
dizzy gear: the cross-cut gear on the dizzy. it should never be removed.

you already know what the dizzy gear looks like at tdc:


so, by assembling everything, keeping slack in the chain, you can use this to find tdc at the cam sprocket.

and yes, a pic or two would help

 

WOW, no wonder I was confused, lol. I thought cam sprocket and cam gear was the same thing. So is the cam gear also sometimes called the distributor drive gear? Either way that really clears things up, haha. I'm going to go back out and see what I can do, and take some pics too.

 

Took the sprocket off, took some pics

 

How do I rotate the cam? I tried physically turning it with the sprocket on with my hands, but it doesn't move. Should I just try harder?? I feel like I am doing something wrong..

 

the cam, as you have it in this picture, can be rotated by hand, with the sprocket to help.



the 2 dots on the cam sprocket, or the single "nub" on the shaft, should be on the top. if they're on the bottom, the distributor will not fire in the correct order.

 

here, you can see my cam sprocket 180 degrees turned from yours:

 

 

Ouuh, I see the nub. OK, I will go give it a good yankin' and report back.. lol. THANKS!

 

Booyah, that thar's you're problem. Irab's got your back!

 

Schools done! I just came back inside, after lots of prying with a large screwdriver, my mom and I got it turned the 180 degrees lol. I'll post up a pic, just to make sure i've got it right before I put the chain on. I had to pull with all my might to get it turned at a couple places in the revolution. It's a big screwdriver, it was flexing pretty good. Anyways I'm happy again, lol. I'll post pics in a few mins

EDIT:
So I seem to have lost my memory card, lovely. Anyways, I do believe its on right, the slot in the sprocket is pointing at 12, and the dimples are too, maybe a hair to the left which I heard was expected.

 

Ok, so i set the cam gear and sprocket to tdc. Not sure what you mean by "with the distributor in, fine-tune the cam gear position so that the dist. gear is in the correct position." Because the cam gear and sprocket are interlocking with the little nub and slot. And they are interlocked with the camshaft, which is set to tdc. So the cam gear, cam sprocket, and camshaft should all be lined up with each other as far as I know. So I placed the chain onto the right side of the sprocket, then held the chain onto the sprocket teeth, and pulled off the sprocket. I then put the rest of the chain onto the sprocket, and slid the sprocket onto the camshaft easily. Now tomorrow, I'm going to torque on the cam gear bolt, put back on the valve cover, intake, vacuum hoses, everything else. Then manually turn the engine to make sure no valves are hitting, and then try and fire her up. Does this sound right? I don't want to come this close, and end up with a bent valve..

 

sounds right

for putting the distributor in, i mean to get the cam (with gear and sprocket on) at 100% tdc. if you put the chain on at tdc, and the cam sprocket is off by a tooth, the dist gear will not line up like in the picture. if you can rotate the cam to make the dist gear look like the picture, then you know you are at tdc.

just put the chain on where you have it now, making sure everything's at tdc and report back. a pic would help (if you can find the card )

good luck

 

Ohh ok, I get what you mean now. Heres some pics, used my moms camera, but then found my memory card.

 

excellent! that's how it should look!

and a pic of the distributor in and of the gears would show if the cam is at tdc.

awesome... one step closer

 

What a relief to know I'm doing well, I honestly didn't think I'd be able to fix the timing on this thing. I've got pics of the distributor like you mentioned! These are what you were talking about, right?

 

yes! perfect!

i wanna see that thing running by krismus!

 

Got it back together in under an hour, and it RUNS!!!!

It was revving at around 2700rpms though, i would have let it warm up but the exhaust fumes were really bad. The exhaust manifold is leaking pretty badly from it missing studs/nuts. It was already missing a couple when I got it, and I think I lost one, and stripped another.. theres also a leak right where an O2 sensor goes in, under the cab, like under the drivers seat. Besides the choking on fumes though, it seemed to run smooth Noticed some coolant/antifreeze dripping from the bottom too, will look into this. At this point, I think I may drive it down to a nearby exhaust shop that I've been to quite a few times, they treat me well. I'll ask how much they'd want to fix the leaks. All in all, very happy to hear it run again, its been months! Special Thanks to all who have gave some input, like Irab88, gottadog, john4wd, etc.

 

Congrats!!

I started mine last Sunday and it revved up to around 2700 when I had it running. I thought that was a little odd but then it died (I hadn't set the valves yet - that's done now).

I also have a small coolant leak from underneath. Mine is from the line under the intake manifold. I would check there; there's a small o-ring that goes in there that is easy to miss. I have mine on order now. That's the only thing keeping me from driving it now! grrrrr

 

Thanks!

Yeah I had a real fun time with that connection actually, I had to hit up the junkyard for the bolts for that pipe on mine, and a replacement o-ring like you said, until I realized i had one on it already still. So I finally got it bolted back on (which is a real PITA once the intake manifold stuff is on!) It may be leaking still though, I'll check there. But the leak I saw looked closer towards the driver's side. I think I may have seen something dripping from the top of the bay, out of one of the hoses that come up high on the fireway by the exhaust manifold. We'll see.

And my Google Chrome web browser isn't letting me open yotatech I used my moms computer to post the last post, and my old internet explorer browser to post this one. What a pain.

 

Started it up again today, drove it around the driveway a bit. Should I bleed the coolant system? I think I read somewhere that they are bad for holding air in the system. My idle is also very sporadic, jumping up and down constantly, shakes the whole truck. What controls the idle on these trucks? Hoping someone knows exactly why its doing that now, like a sensor or adjusting something.. I'll look into the haynes manual for now.