I'm swapping cam sprockets from a bad head to a good one, cam sprocket position relative to camshaft unknown. Cannot find any obvious marks besides "half bowl" indentations on sprocket. Anybody have good info??

 

I haven't done one yet but I don't think there are timing marks on the cam gears, so they just need to be tight on the cams, the cams have the timing placement(marks), to each other, and to the crank with #1 at the top of cylinder

 

Ok, was kind of thinking that. Thanks.

 

There are NO timing marks on the 2.3 Duratech.

You need to buy the appropriate timing set to do this. Essentially it is a flat bar that goes across the back of the cams into their slots, and holds them both at TDC.

Then you insert a pin into a bolt hole that is directly behind the crank sensor. You will know it, it is an 8 or 10mm bolt, it has a washer, and it is coarse thread.

You loosen both cam gears up, loosen the crank, and then make sure it is coming back on the upstroke to TDC (clockwise rotation)
Then place the shorter of the two pins into that hole, until it is all the way in. Then rotate the crank until it contacts the pin. Crank is set for TDC.
You then need to place one of the bolts in the timing cover (or a similar bolt of the same thread pitch, I think M6x1.00) and that goes into the harmonic balancer. You will see one leg of the balancer with a hole in it. That goes to the approx 6 o'clock position, where there is a threaded hole in the timing cover for the bolt. Put the bolt in there through the balancer to set the balancer at the correct orientation.

The next part is tricky. You have to tighten that crank bolt to 200 ft-lbs or so. You CANNOT use the timing tool to do so (it will bend) and forget about using the 6mm bolt in the timing cover, you'll break it.

What I did is I found a bolt of the same thread/pitch and at least the same length of the crank timing pin, and marked it for the same depth as the pin. I triple checked this to verify I was on TDC (a few degrees wont kill you, ill explain that later) and then I used that bolt to hold it all in place as I wrenched that crank bolt back in.

After that is done, remove the bolt, remove the balancer bolt, and rotate the engine over a few times (your cam gear bolts are still loose, yeah?) Then put the timing tool pin back in.

With the pin in place, we work on the cams. Use the flat bar to make sure both gears are in their proper orientation, then use a large wrench on the cam (there are flats machined into them somewhere between cyl 1 and 2) and hold the cam in place as you torque those bolts back down. Remove the crank pin, and the cam tool after both are tightened, and check your work. With the crank pin placed in the block on the TDC stroke, the engine should stop at TDC and the cam tool should slide into both cams with little issue at the same time.

After ALL of that is done, lets set the crank sensor. There is a factory tool for this (piece of plastic that comes with new sensors) but you dont need it. With the crank pin in again, and the crank resting against it, count the teeth on the harmonic balancer. Counting counter-clockwise from the large gap, count down 9 teeth, and as best you can, find its center. Then you align the sensor center (should be a rib across the top of it pointing to the balancer/trigger wheel) against the center of that 9th tooth.

It sounds like a process, but it really isn't all too terrible