legacycentral bbs

Ok guys, almost ready to dump the EJ22T into the spot where the NA engine used to reside. Thought I would replace all the seals and timing belt before I did it. When I pulled the timing cover off I noticed that a new timing belt had been put on by a garage. I notice that they had it so that when the engine was at TDC on no 1 that the arrows lined up with the notches in the timing cover. I thought that it was supposed to be the notches...not the arrows. So I consulted one of my shop manuals which told me that it was definitley the notches that need to be used....not the arrows. Just for the hell of it I took the timing cover off of the NA engine. This engine had also been done at a different garage (on the other side of the continent even!) and they had alligned with the aarows as well. WTF!!!!!

Number 1: Can someone reafirm that I am correct in using the notches on the cam pulleys and not the arrows?

Number 2: WTF ARE THE F***ING arrows for?


I have been a bit frustrated for the last hour or so....

yes use the notches... i know how frustrating that can be. when i got my first subaru like 8 years ago. it was a 88 GL, and they have 2 timing belts, so if one is off it can still run as long the distrib is lined up right.

wow was that a pain in the ass, and not too mention the arrows were timed not the notches.

but again on the 2.2's use the notches

The arrows are used to determine #1 TDC. When they line up with the marks on the timing cover. If you use the arrow on the front face of the crank timing pulley and the arrows on the cam pulleys, you are fine. But you should use the notches instead.
The little mark on the back side of the crank pulley, and the notches are for aligning the timing belt.
The notches line up with marks on the timing belt.

Thanks for keeping me sane guys.

You don't need the arrows.

Just make sure the notches on the tooth on the backside of the crank sprocket, and the notches on the outer lip of the cam sprockets, are lined up with the marks on the timing belt, and you are all set to go. You don't need to pay attention to anything else.

I am new to the group, and new to Subaru. I recently changed head gaskets on my "new" 1992 EJ22T that is in a kit car on VW chassis, and when I removed the heads, I lined up the arrows on the cam sprockets with the timing cover notches, and the crank sprocket arrow was also at 12 o'clock. I thought that was the way it was supposed to be. As I went through the process and researched more on the internet, I found out about lining up the notches with the timing cover marks. When I tried to start up after putting everything together, it wouldn't fire. Eventually I gave up and decided to line everything up the way it was when I took it apart, and it fired up! This post was the first thing I discovered in all of my web searching that explained the arrows and notches so that a newbie like myself could understand it and get it right. Than you very much for sharing your experience and knowledge!

Welcome to the BBS and glad to hear this info was helpful