JDM Journeys
Moderator
Since I've messed this up every possible way that it can be, I thought it might be helpful to go over the rough procedure and some pitfalls for setting the timing on the 1HZ. My variant is under the hood of an HZJ77, but most should be very similar.
First off, if you think you can do it by ear, without the tools, then stop reading, and give it a go. But I will warn you that it takes very very little turning of the injection pump to go a fair bit out of spec. Very little... you've been warned.
Okay, you're still here, and you're not a dummy like me, but you'd like a few laughs as to how badly I messed it up, or you've never tried it, and thought it looked beyond the scope of your abilities. If I can do it, YOU can do it. Trust me on this.
Tools:
1. and 2. SST timing tool plus dial indicator. Here are mine...
3. An s-shaped 12mm wrench or a modified normal type, to access those bolts on the front of the injection pump. They are difficult to get at, esp the one near the block. I ended up cutting my 12mm combo wrench in half, and shrink wrapping some vinyl wrapped cable to the ends of each, so I could work the tool into place without losing it.. inelegant solution, much better solved with a bent wrench. So get one of those instead of adorning your broken 12mm spanner with clothesline. Even I'm too embarrassed to show proof of this abomination.
4. Medium extension on a 1/4 drive ratchet, with a 12mm socket.
5. 32mm socket on the thinnest driver you can find with a handle extension (I used a jack handle)
6. 17mm wrench (ratcheting wrench is nice for this part)
Okay, there are plenty of videos out there for how to do this, and way better than I can tell you, so find one, and watch it. I'll simply give you some gotchas as you go along...
Also, here is an instruction sheet that someone put together and I wish I could give it proper credit. It might be a factory supplement? Dunno...
Here we go.
-Slowly unscrew your oil filter and put it off to the side. I've tried doing it without this step. Its miserable, and takes 5 times as long if you do manage it. Just pull the filter. As long as its cold, and you go slowly, you probably won't even drip (I did, but only because I was wearing a white shirt).
-I popped off the throttle linkage joiner thingy too, to get it out of the way.
-Grab the 12mm socket and extension, and find a way to get it into the back of the pump where the distributive head bolt is. Unscrew it and carefully extract it without losing the copper washer off it, which usually falls onto a leaf spring or bounces into the tray of oil you have underneath because you didn't let you filter cool long enough... or so I've been told.
Good practice to replace this washer.
-Use your 32mm socket to turn the crank clockwise to TDC. Marking the notches with a yellow paint pen makes things a lot easier to see, now and in the future.
WAIT. Don't do what I did. Stop with that ratchet before the damn truck runs you over, and take your truck out of gear. Neutral!!! Now!!!
- I have ACSD (and maybe ADHD and probably PTSD from doing this so often) so I used a big flat screwdriver to lever the ACSD out of the way, and then used a stubby philips screwdriver (which measured 5mm) to jam in between the plunger and the lever. (Because I haven't removed the ACSD, I'm probably going to automotive hell soon anyways, but mine works beautifully, likely because I threatened it with the blanking plate I have sitting on my bench and so it promised to behave...)
-I usually loosen the nuts at the front of the pump at this stage, and also the 17mm bolt under the pump, then snug that one back up to hold things in place. After the dial indicator gets parked there things get very sensitive to movement, so better to get ready beforehand, in my experience.
-Now comes the tricky part. Find a way to thread the special tool (I'm not talking about myself here) into the back of the pump, via the hole you just uncovered. I've found there is only one way it fits between the injector lines, kind of at 8:00 or so if you were looking at the back of the pump. Get it threaded into the pump, paying whomever you need to with small enough hands to make this happen.
-Slide the dial indicator into the special tool and tighten the wingnut. There should be a little pressure on the needle...
Go back up to the official page now and you are at step 4. Follow this to the letter/number: Back the crank up using your 32mm (I found it easiest to park the wrench on the LHS side of the fan, so I could reach it while watching the dial indicator. Once the dial stops, set it to zero, go forward on the crank to TDC, and repeat until you are sure you have the right reading. Whatever your dial indicator tells you when you've reached TDC (assuming you haven't stuffed it up) is your plunger stroke. You are aiming for a full turn plus another tiny bit, amounting to 1.03 to 1.09 for the 1HZ, in my particular application anyways. Check your truck/engine/manual to get the right number for yours. If you're not in the right timing place, loosen off those nuts and bolts again and rotate the pump toward the engine to increase timing, or away from the engine to decrease the stroke. Then tighten up the pump, being careful to watch the indicator as you do. A few more fore and aft rotations of the crankshaft confirm that you have it right.
Now you just need to button everything back up (don't forget to take that long extended ratchet off the crank bolt, unless you're wanting to change the bolt and pulley using the "starter method"
.)
There are a lot of posts, vids and pics of how to do this, and I really should compile the best ones in this thread. My post is simply intended to highlight some of the parts I had trouble with the first few times I did the timing. BTW, for the record, the pic above is my setting, 1.07...
Hope this helps anyone who is hesitant on doing their own timing. It isn't rocket surgery, because if it was I'd have killed far too many rockets by now. Feel free to point out things I shouldn't have done, or easier ways to accomplish the task at hand.
Cheers All.
Phil
First off, if you think you can do it by ear, without the tools, then stop reading, and give it a go. But I will warn you that it takes very very little turning of the injection pump to go a fair bit out of spec. Very little... you've been warned.
Okay, you're still here, and you're not a dummy like me, but you'd like a few laughs as to how badly I messed it up, or you've never tried it, and thought it looked beyond the scope of your abilities. If I can do it, YOU can do it. Trust me on this.
Tools:
1. and 2. SST timing tool plus dial indicator. Here are mine...
3. An s-shaped 12mm wrench or a modified normal type, to access those bolts on the front of the injection pump. They are difficult to get at, esp the one near the block. I ended up cutting my 12mm combo wrench in half, and shrink wrapping some vinyl wrapped cable to the ends of each, so I could work the tool into place without losing it.. inelegant solution, much better solved with a bent wrench. So get one of those instead of adorning your broken 12mm spanner with clothesline. Even I'm too embarrassed to show proof of this abomination.
4. Medium extension on a 1/4 drive ratchet, with a 12mm socket.
5. 32mm socket on the thinnest driver you can find with a handle extension (I used a jack handle)
6. 17mm wrench (ratcheting wrench is nice for this part)
Okay, there are plenty of videos out there for how to do this, and way better than I can tell you, so find one, and watch it. I'll simply give you some gotchas as you go along...
Also, here is an instruction sheet that someone put together and I wish I could give it proper credit. It might be a factory supplement? Dunno...
Here we go.
-Slowly unscrew your oil filter and put it off to the side. I've tried doing it without this step. Its miserable, and takes 5 times as long if you do manage it. Just pull the filter. As long as its cold, and you go slowly, you probably won't even drip (I did, but only because I was wearing a white shirt).
-I popped off the throttle linkage joiner thingy too, to get it out of the way.
-Grab the 12mm socket and extension, and find a way to get it into the back of the pump where the distributive head bolt is. Unscrew it and carefully extract it without losing the copper washer off it, which usually falls onto a leaf spring or bounces into the tray of oil you have underneath because you didn't let you filter cool long enough... or so I've been told.
-Use your 32mm socket to turn the crank clockwise to TDC. Marking the notches with a yellow paint pen makes things a lot easier to see, now and in the future.
WAIT. Don't do what I did. Stop with that ratchet before the damn truck runs you over, and take your truck out of gear. Neutral!!! Now!!!
- I have ACSD (and maybe ADHD and probably PTSD from doing this so often) so I used a big flat screwdriver to lever the ACSD out of the way, and then used a stubby philips screwdriver (which measured 5mm) to jam in between the plunger and the lever. (Because I haven't removed the ACSD, I'm probably going to automotive hell soon anyways, but mine works beautifully, likely because I threatened it with the blanking plate I have sitting on my bench and so it promised to behave...)
-I usually loosen the nuts at the front of the pump at this stage, and also the 17mm bolt under the pump, then snug that one back up to hold things in place. After the dial indicator gets parked there things get very sensitive to movement, so better to get ready beforehand, in my experience.
-Now comes the tricky part. Find a way to thread the special tool (I'm not talking about myself here) into the back of the pump, via the hole you just uncovered. I've found there is only one way it fits between the injector lines, kind of at 8:00 or so if you were looking at the back of the pump. Get it threaded into the pump, paying whomever you need to with small enough hands to make this happen.
-Slide the dial indicator into the special tool and tighten the wingnut. There should be a little pressure on the needle...
Go back up to the official page now and you are at step 4. Follow this to the letter/number: Back the crank up using your 32mm (I found it easiest to park the wrench on the LHS side of the fan, so I could reach it while watching the dial indicator. Once the dial stops, set it to zero, go forward on the crank to TDC, and repeat until you are sure you have the right reading. Whatever your dial indicator tells you when you've reached TDC (assuming you haven't stuffed it up) is your plunger stroke. You are aiming for a full turn plus another tiny bit, amounting to 1.03 to 1.09 for the 1HZ, in my particular application anyways. Check your truck/engine/manual to get the right number for yours. If you're not in the right timing place, loosen off those nuts and bolts again and rotate the pump toward the engine to increase timing, or away from the engine to decrease the stroke. Then tighten up the pump, being careful to watch the indicator as you do. A few more fore and aft rotations of the crankshaft confirm that you have it right.
Now you just need to button everything back up (don't forget to take that long extended ratchet off the crank bolt, unless you're wanting to change the bolt and pulley using the "starter method"
There are a lot of posts, vids and pics of how to do this, and I really should compile the best ones in this thread. My post is simply intended to highlight some of the parts I had trouble with the first few times I did the timing. BTW, for the record, the pic above is my setting, 1.07...
Hope this helps anyone who is hesitant on doing their own timing. It isn't rocket surgery, because if it was I'd have killed far too many rockets by now. Feel free to point out things I shouldn't have done, or easier ways to accomplish the task at hand.
Cheers All.
Phil
Last edited: