Yeah, you kind of screwed the pooch on this one. The correct way to do it is to install the factory tool that holds the cams in align as you drop the cam cover with the cams onto the top of the cylinder head, use the correct tools to pull it down into place and then bolt it all together. If you have installed the cam carrier with the cams already and the cam shaft is not in the correct place you will have to remove the cam cover and get it in the correct position before you reinstall it and hope that you did not bend any valves in you previous install.

If you look at the rear of the cams you will see that there is a slot ground in them. The proper tool aligns those slots so that they are inline, as in flat like you could place something in there that would lock them together. Look at the front of the cams and pay attention to the 3 bolt pattern that the cam gears bolt into. When you have it set up properly the slot in the back will be inline and the triangular bolt pattern will have one triangle pointing straight up and one pointing straight down. Truthfully, I forget which one goes up and which one goes down, if you say that you know how the intake goes in, then the bolt pattern for the exhaust will be opposite of it.

You said that you set he crank up at TDC. I hope that you mean that you align the timing marks for the crank, these engines do not assemble on TDC, when the marks are aligned it is about 30 degrees of crankshaft rotation off of TDC and if you spin the crank around until the number 1 piston is at the top of it's stroke regardless of the timing marks and then go ahead and assemble it you will surely bend valves.

Welcome to the world of Volvos, if you have any questions feel free to e-mail me or just give me a call at the shop on Monday.

Mark
714-932-2502