cam marks alignment

[jlw35]

New to the Fiat world, so a question about my '75 Spider.

Replacing the timing belt, the cam pulleys are aligned to the castings within a few degrees, the crankshaft pulley lines up to the mark on the cover. When I take the belt off, can I move the cam pulleys to align perfectly with the castings and not cause any other problems? If so, will the cam pulleys move freely and individually, should I spin them in a particular direction?

The car ran reasonably well (overheating, but that's another issue) when I bought It last month, so the timing is probably not too far off (no backfire, starts and accelerates well).

As to the distributor, the rotor does not point to the #4 plug in the condition I described above, is that critical and if so, how would I go about correcting that?

Thanks in advance for any advice. I've learned a lot just reading all of the good info posted here.

Jeff

[azruss]

when you remove the timing belt cover, there should be a 2 ended pointer that shows where to align the cams at TDC. If you are getting TDC off the cover, you may want to pull the #1 plug and stick a straw or something in the hole so you see it go up and down and can find actual TDC. Do this with the belt on. Also, before the belt comes off, mark how the aux shaft pulley is aligned. If you think the cams are off, you may rotate them just a few degrees in either direction to get them on. You will find when you install the new belt you need to make adjustments in the cam location to get the cogs to line up. The rotor should be pointed to the #4 plug contact in the cap. there will be 10 degree off here for static timing, so dont worry about getting it dead on. You will do this with a timing light when you are finished. there is a nut at the base of the dizzy. loosen that to rotate cap. If you are so far off that you arent close, you can remove the nut and bracket to pull out and reposition the dizzy. If the car was running ok, then this step should not be necessary.

[JConnerly]

If you put a straw in a cylinder to check for tdc, make sure it's a long straw! Don't ask how I came by this information.

[jlw35]

"If you put a straw in a cylinder to check for tdc, make sure it's a long straw! Don't ask how I came by this information."

I won't ask, it sounds like something I might do, if indeed you did anything!

Jeff