Hey I bought a Samurai that had a 1.6 Tracker motor in it.  It had been taken apart and left that way so I'm trying to make sure I puut it back together right.  I'm working on the timing belt and not sure how to tell if the Camshaft gear and the Crankshaft gear are lined up correctly.  Do any of you know a way to tell without tearing everything down again?

Thanks

Dan

Crank mark up, cam mark down, but there are 2 and I can't remember
the right one to use, but it should be the mark where both #1 (front cylinder)
has no tension on intake or exhaust valve stems

Wild

just did a valve and i had this issue going together as i dont have a timing cover and was given poor information.
what i did was look into the spark plug hone and try to find top dead center by turning the crank untill the piston reaches the peak of its stroke (technically youre supposed to use a dial indicator but i just eyeballed it cause the timing belt teeth arent that fine).

after finding top dead center this is where i made a mistake. there were two marks 180 degrees apart on the cam. one was painted white and was alone. the other was a cut in the sprocket and dimple on the spoke beneath it. for me that was not the timing mark you want facing up. you want the lone mark facing up and the one i just mentions facing down. then put on your belt with the most tension on the drivers side of the belt. after you get the belt on double check by turning the engine back to tdc and making sure that mark is up. then you can put on your distributor with the rotor facing cylinder 1 plug wire.

im new to sidekicks but i hope this helps. once again i had to do it this way just becuase i lacked a timing cover and couldnt see marks on the crank sprocket

thanks for the heads up... The two sets of marks threw me.... Dan

You can also verify correct timing on TDC #1 by looking at the rotor arm under the distributor cap, it should be pointing to roughly the 11 o'clock position.  In addition to Wild's information you should have it timed close enough to fire up!
Joe

OE wire position should have your rotor pointing to the 5 O'clock
position firing #1, if it's pointing at 11 then you are 180* out, but
because of the cam mark being 180* compared to many engines
creates this problem, as without a book, most will set it with the
cam mark at the 12 position which puts you 180* out

Wild