As the title states, I am in the middle of a cam swap on my 2004 LS6. I am at the point where i need to align the cam and crank gears to reinstall the chain, however the oil pump seems to be blocking the crank gear. I managed to find just the right angle where I can sort of see the teeth, and I think I saw a dot, but when at the 12:00 position it is covered so I cant tell if its exactly centered.

Now, I noticed that at the spot where I think is correct, the #1 piston is at TDC, however I am not sure which stroke it is on or if that is even relevant. If so, is it safe to just set the crank based on the piston location and then align the cam gear dot to the 6:00 position?

Thanks!

 

If you can mark the dot with a colored pen it would help. You want go be 100% sure that both dots align, I would not guess at this. You can always remove the oil pump if needed.

 

The first answer is NO difference, the crankshaft is 360* and the camshaft is 720*.
Thus the camshaft TDC happens once for the crankshaft's two rotations.
The crankshaft has TWO pistons at TDC, #1 and #6.
YOUR choice if you want #1 at overlap and #6 at compression.
YOUR choice if you want #6 at compression and #1 at overlap.

This allows for measurement of the lift of the lifters in the Overlap Cylinder.

There will be one cylinder position wherein the lifter will be on the base of the camshaft.
The complement cylinder will have the two lifters, intake/exhaust on the ramps.

The BEST position for that is Split Overlap, equal lift of the two lifters in their bore.

This is a VERY EASY measurement, no need for a degree wheel/mark observation.

THIS METHOD will FIND incorrectly MARKED timing sprockets, an observation I MADE (in some cases) BEFORE an error was comitted in the engine assembly.

Lance