A couple of days ago, finished up replacing the headgasket on my 87 740 GLE. Surprise job, it was. Just put on a new water pump, running the engine ckg for leaks, saw oil oozing down the right side of the engine right at the main oil gallery "bump out" on the block/head joint. FUN. *&#$%*&^!

After getting the gasket set, got it apart and back together. Only glitch, had to buy a new distributor, broke a connector to the Hall sensor, couldn't wait for a replacement kit, didn't want to mess with it. Eyeballed the position of the new one. Everything went together well. Started and ran first crank (LOVE IT when that happens...). Went to set the timing, hooked up the light and couldn't find the timing mark. Highlighted it with white paint, it was about 30+ degrees BTDC. Couldn't get it to come back anywhere near 12 degrees. Must have moved a cog on the timing belt. Tore it apart and checked, marks are right on. Discovered that the notch on the crank pulley is 180 deg. off of TDC when the marks are aligned on the timing belt pulleys. Why is that? Shouldn't they all be the same place? Am I missing something here? I ended up just setting the distributor plate (it's on the back of the cyl. head on this B230F) eyeballed to where the old one was set. It runs great, better than before the gasket went. I know, if it ain't broke...but I'm of the old school of timing settings. The light should show you where the timing is and you should be able to set it by rotating the distributor. The Haynes manual I use is most vague about timing settings. Only discusses the B280 and not very clearly at that. No mention of the B230F timing. Again, what did I miss? I'm thinking I missed a "Well, DUH!" somewhere along the line. Yes, it runs great, but I need to KNOW...it's bugging me! Thanks for your suggestions, guys!

Roger
So. Colo.
'85 240/'87 740