I got my head all bolted down today, with a head gasket, and now my camshaft sprocket won't go back on. Before I removed the head, I made sure to wedge the chain so that it wouldn't slip, and it didn't. I tried putting the camshaft sprocket on, and it wouldn't go on. We even went as far as turning the crank and camshaft in order to line it up in case it wasn't, and everything is lined up, I just can't get the sprocket to go high enough for it to slide onto the dowel on the front of the camshaft. What should I do?

 

i had to play with mine for like 30 mins before mine even came off. Let me know how you get it on b/c ill be there soon.

 

If you are sure the tensioner hasn't slipped, it should go back on. When I put my 2mm headgasket on, it was a biotch. I ended up just puttin a screwdriver through the hole of the sprocket to lift it enough to slide on the dowel pin.

 

I ended up saying f-it, pulled the front cover (simple job), dropped the oil pan (simple if you have a drill and a socket adaptor), and fixed the timing chain. I ended up needing to take the head off again, and someone from Zcar.com suggested I use a screwdriver to hold the tensioner in, by having the correct size screwdriver handle hold the tensioner in. So I dropped the screwdriver in, made sure it was snug, but not stuck, made sure it touched the crankshaft, and took the head off. When I put my other one back on, I just had to get a large screwdriver with tape on the end, put it in the hole for the camshaft sprocket bolt, grabbed a rubber mallet, lifted up on the screwdriver, tapped on the sprocket, and the sprocket slid right on. No real hard labor, maybe 20 ft. lbs. on the screwdriver and a mallet to get it on.

I also read about using a long screwdriver and taking the oil pump off, and popping the tensioner back on, but I didn't feel like going through all of the trouble to do so.