Hi - I've just changed the belts on my Hyper 796, but I'm not 100% confident it is all aligned correctly. I marked the old belt/wheel positions, but the marks got knocked a bit when putting the belts back on. There doesn't seem to be any alignment marks on the plastic, to check it's all there - the only original alignment mark is where the main crank pulley meets the crankcase. The cams all turn without hitting anything, but I suspect you could be a tooth or 2 out and not foul Is there a way to 'start from scratch with this? TIA - Simon
Vertical looks good. There’s yellow marks at 12 o’clock. I can’t see the horizontal clearly. To start from scratch, or do them “factory” if you will, you need a crank locking tool and the two pins for locking the cams in position.
Can you take another photo straight on on the horizontal? As Nelly says, vertical lines up (almost but enough for the purpose - the yellow dots), but can’t see the H mark on the engine case only in the cam.
Even without the crank locking tool, if you line up the mark on the bottom pulley with the line on the clutch side casing. Then use suitable sized rods, screws, whatever in the holes in the camshafts, accessed by removing the blanking screws in the LH camshaft end cover you should be able to line everything up.
Thanks for the updates and apologies for the delay replying. I've added a couple of pics of the horizontal.
Why are there 2 marks on your horizontal? Looks like a yellow paint mark in line with the case marking and a punched indentation 3 teeth clockwise of that
Hi Paul - there are/were a number of different marks on the plastic casing, which has led to my confusion over the positioning of the cams/belts, which is why I really need to find accurate timing references The cam position in this pic is probably wrong...
I would not rotate that engine until ALL the correct marks aligne. I would, (if you haven't already) remove the spark plugs & fit the Ducati tool used to rotate the engine by hand. That way you can control the rotation & if you feel ANY resistance, stop before you bend a valve. Don't be tempted to put it in gear & use the rear wheel to rotate the engine. As West Cork Paul is suggesting, the horizontal cylinder timing looks to be three teeth out looking at your picture & although I've no experiance of that engine I would have to agree with him. Better safe than sorry !
I thought I had photos of the last time I did my Monster 1100 which is 2 valve, but alas I don't, only of a 4 valve engine which will be no help here. However, the mark on the case is normally very very clear and the mark on the cam wheel is normally the punched indentation which is highlighted with paint - it does look like you are 3 teeth out but it's hard to tell without seeing it in the flesh. Take the horizontal belt off and as @CAT3 said, remove the plugs and turn slowly. You can also put a long screwdriver into the horizontal cylinder plug hole and then be able to see exactly when you're at TDC which you can verify with the mark seen through the timing window on the RHS. Once you know you're at TDC you can then see which marks are the correct factory ones as they will then line up and can then replace the belt.
Why not do as has been suggested? leave crank where it is and remove the screws from the L/H camshaft covers and use rods (I use drill shanks 6.0 or 6.5mm from memory?) to lock both cams in the correct position and then fit and tension belts, if necessary you can slacken off the 3 screws in the cam pulleys when you tension the belts.
Hi Rman - I've done as @Derek suggested aligned the crank pulley with the mark on the crankcase removed the middle screw/cover from the plastic covers for the camshafts (just above the spark plugs) inserted a rod that would just fit into the recess on the cam (7mm) and lock the cam in that position When I slackened/removed the belt from the horizontal cam, it only took a slight twist to push the rod a few mm more into the cam recess. The vertical cam was already a good fit for the rod. After taking up the slack, I rotated the engine a few times to settle the belts, the re-did the belt tension before turning the engine over by hand several more times (note, this chucks quite a lot of oil out of the cam cover holes..). All was smooth and easy when turning over, so I'm pretty happy all is where it should be now. I just need to top up the oil and then try starting it.
As I said, I am no familiar with your engine, but I would be very careful if you did decide to loosen the three torx bolts & move the cam pulley independantly from the engine. I believe the pulley has three slotted holes so exact cam timing can be achieved, (which is another process & should be done before cam timing for the belts) & moving the cam pulley & with it the timing mark, could upset engine/cam timing.
Hi - yes, I'd only loosen the cam pulleys themselves if I was going to re-time the cams. As it is, I'm happy with the way the bike ran before the belt change, so I only wanted to replace the belts to the same positions as the old ones. Thanks for the help, all! Simon
The three torx bolts should be loosened when setting the belt tension only when the cams are locked with the factory tools. This is according to the factory procedure. They can also of course be used for dialling in exact cam timings.
Quick update - once I'd remembered to put the plug leads back on the plugs (doh!) bike starts, runs and idles as before Thanks again, all!
