So, yesterday I thought I heard some valvetrain noise coming from my motor.
It is a BP4W swapped 95, so I let it sit overnight and checked the valve clearances this morning. When I went to set it to TDC, I couldn't help but notice my Nose pulley marks were WAYYYY past TDC. The Cam marks aligned perfectly with the 19 ribs between the I and E timing marks.
I went ahead and checked my clearances, and they were all pretty good. Not very far off in any direction. I put the VC back on and cranked the car the try to find the source of the noise once again. It was the intake side timing belt tensioner - it had come loose. So, I tightened it, put the car at TDC and checked my timing again. Same thing - marks are FAR past TDC. Like, the 10 degree mark is about 10 degrees PAST TDC.
I started the car and it ran just fine - the same as it did before. When I checked my timing with a light about a month ago, my timing was perfectly set at 10 degrees BTDC.
NOW - my CAS is set all the way advanced. When I put this motor in I never checked the actual timing. All I did was put it in, turned the CAS until it ran, put a timing light on it (it happened to be at 10BTDC without any adjustment of the CAS or anything else) and drove it. I just thought my CAS was about to fail or something.
....not a mechanic....
The previous owners said they just did the water pump and timing belt. Did they just set the timing wrong when they put it back together?
I NO COMPRENDO PORQUE SOY ESTUPIDO.
Thanks.
EDIT (what I'm thinking is - they put it back together WAYYY retarded, but the cams are aligned properly. Then me setting the CAS advanced made the spark catch up to my WAY retarded crank pulley. The car still stomped my buddy's stock 95 - so I never felt that it was down on power. Plus, I never had a correct timed BP4W to compare to. AND it was quicker than my Girlfriend's 02 SE BPZ3 6 Speed.
So, I'm igniting fuel WAYYY after the piston reaches the top of its travel? If this were true... I think I wouldn't destroyed some valves or something.