I have a 92 Cavalier Z24, 3.1. I just bought it off a guy that was convinced that the timing chain had jumped a tooth. It was wanting to start but was backfiring through the intake and exhaust. And when I got the timing chain cover off, the chain had more than normal play in it.

Well, anyway, when I bought the car off him 2 weeks ago, it came with a new timing chain, sprockets, gaskets, oil pan gasket, water pump. So I decided to go ahead and replace the timing chain as well as everything else.

But I screwed up big time....I rotated the motor backwards, (counter clockwise) and now the pistons are running into the valves before it reaches top dead center. And no matter how much I rotate the cam shaft I cannot get the timing set back right to where the pistons aren't running into the valves.

It's really started to frustrate me, this isn't my first timing chain/belt job I have done before, but my first ever on a Chevy 3.1 motor. I know its my fault I screwed up, but I'm just wondering.....

How do I fix it? I can only get the timing marks to line up, like both pointing at 6 o'clock but if I try to get them both at 12 o'clock no matter which way I rotate the motor, it will only go to 1 o'clock or 11 o'clock, since my frustration has about over came me I've tried to turn it both ways.

I know if I do not get it completely 100% right, I'll bend some valves and then have a bigger problem. (In which then I would drop 200 at a junk yard and replace the motor....lol)

I cannot get the motor to fully rotate because its hitting the valves, I've tried everything I can think of myself to fix it and it's just left me frustrated.

Anyone know how I can fix this? Please help.

Thanks

Rotate it forward to where the valves begin to hit, then remove the chain and rotate just the crank backwards. Should be able to get it so the marks line up that way.

Just a thought, but I have both Valve covers off the motor. Couldn't I just take loose the Rocker arms on all the cylinders and then reset my cam and crank timing where it needs to be then tighten them back down to Torque Specifications???

I just thought of this earlier. But, wouldnt that work? My mechanic neighbor told me it's going to rather hard to get it set back since I rotated it backwards.

I have tried to set it back trying what you said to do and I can't seem to get it.

But I had this thought, wouldn't it be actually easier to do this way?

Should work...