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Have read lots of different ways of finding top dead centre, none of which are completely conclusive. Its propably really simple but having never tried it i dont want to get it wrong. Im trying to find tdc to adjust the valves.

Would this item help?
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Top-Dead-Centre-I ... 2eab277f2b

turn the crank over till you see the rocker high and slowly move it till it drops down the lobe of the cam and move back and forth untill you see the peak..


j

Until i see the rocker high?

I thought it was the top of the piston i was looking for.

Why do you need to "find" tdv when is clealy marked on the engine

jason

take the rocker cover off. turn it over by hand and put it on the timing mark on the front pulley. look at the rockers/cam on no.1, the cam lobes should both be pointing away from the rockers or theyll be on the "cross over" where both valves are slightly open. if the later is the case turn it over again 360 degrees and back to the mark and it'll be where it needs to be. the crank turns twice to every one turn of the cam.
do you have a touch of play in both rockers on no.1? this is tdc on no.1!
adjust these 2 rockers. theres a 10 mm nut that locks up an eccentric thingy... youll work it out. but put the feeler guage inbetween the rocker and the valve.
the firing order.... 1 - 5 - 3 - 6 - 2 - 4.
turn the crank watching the rockers on cyl 5. (you wont need to turn it much. a 1/3 of a turn.) till both cam lobes are equally facing away from both rockers on no.5. again when you think its on tdc on no.5 youll be able to feel the slack in the rockers. adjust these two.
then turn another 1/3 of a turn to no.3 and so on......

sorry..... presuming your doing the tappets??? its the reason most people ask about tdc.

Yeah tappets, if thats the same as adjusting valves?

Just gotta get rocker cover off and read this post over while actually doing it. Need to understand words like cam lobes and other lingo that is new to me.

I get all the feeler gauge and excentric bit, it is just getting the individual cylinders to tdc im really not sure about.

Tried turning the camshaft today and the adaptor, (part 6) broke!
http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do ... g=11&fg=25

Did you take the plus out first

Jason

Plugs, yeah.

I think it already had a crack in it from last time someone attempted to rotate engine (not me.) Looks like its made of a lightweight alloy, whuch seems a bit daft.