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I posted this on MVS and read a bunch of guides, but none seems to answer my question under my circumstances...
1998 2.3L T5 Turbo. 220K miles
I just did a complete head gasket job plus a lot of additional small hoses and seals, PCV tube, coolant reservoir, vacuum elbows and similar. It came to this after the head gasket opened between the water jacket and the #3 cylinder. I pulled the cams and cam gears. Intake and Exhaust were easy to keep separate. Getting the cam gears aligned perfectly was a little more of a challenge.
I just buttoned the engine back up, after two long weeks and started it up. It runs kinda rough. makes some extra exhaust noises (sounds like valve noises and I'm treated to new and unpleasant smoke from the exhaust manifold. After letting it reach normal temperate, I shut it down and re-checked the cams.
I'm worried that the timing is off, but unsure how to re-check it.
My timing belt cover appears to have had the notched portion cut off. There are white marks at the 12 o'clock point on the cams, but only the intake cam has an index mark on the cover. Without the notched plastic, I can only give my best guess that the marks on the cams are in precisely the correct place.
I think the exhaust cam gear might be off a notch. Probably one tooth too far forward... but I can't be sure.
My crank gear is also a little confusing - having not one mark, but two very small notches, one on the tip of a pair of adjacent teeth. I've been aligning the low-point between these teeth to the index mark on the front of the engine. This puts #1 cylinder at approximately TDC.
I confirmed the following:
1) Can lay a steel straight edge across the cam bolts. It lays perfectly across the top bolt on the exhaust cam, and the two top bolts on the intake cam. It will do the same if held along the bottom.
2) With the cam position sensor removed, the "slot"on the exhaust cam is horizontal above the center line of the head. The Slot on the intake cam is horizontal below the center line of the head.
3) With the sparks out, I can rotate the crank easily encountering no mechanical interference.
I have to have this car back on the road asap. Any advice or suggestions will be greatly appreciated.
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