problems with TDC, crankshaft bearing, head gasket

[Skrapbob]

A while ago I noticed the crank pulley was wearing away at my pulley guard, so I removed the guard. Also, later, I noticed that the engine seemed like it might be lacking some power, but it idled okay, and I drove it that way for quite awhile. Then, after hearing bhearts Aspire engine and how smooth it sounded, I went about trying to figure out why my engine was a little noisy. With a stethoscope I noticed a whine(squall) from around the crank pulley.

So... my questions:

1. Do I need new crank bearings?

I have tried to locate TDC at #1 cylinder visually by looking through the spark plug hole and stopping the #1 piston at the highest point.

2. I marked the distributor with a red mark where #1 wire comes out. Has my timing belt jumped a tooth? And would this be why I had lost power? Or am I even doing this correctly?


A look at the cam gear:


3. Can I set the timing on my engine without the pulley guards?

Sorry about the large pics.

[william]

Yes you set the timing with The guards off take the lower one off look down between The belt at The bottom timing gear (crank) at the very top of the gear their is a notch above that will be an arrow line these two up this will be tds make sure number cylinder piston is up .
The. Check to see what the top looks like.
If your timing is set correct the top gear will have one like at 12 o'clock and one at 3.

[Skrapbob]

I should have included this pic too with the original post.

To the left on top of the pulley is the yellow notch and the white notch is to the right. Does this look correct?

[zoom zoom]

The bottom pic lol... If I'm not seeing it wrong.. It's early yet.

Those indent marks are your tdc and 10* btdc. The one on the left is tdc, the one on the right is 10* advanced(btdc)

Look to the right and you can see the timing scale. The 10* btdc mark should line up with that. So your pretty far off.

Roll the engine over so the crank pulley is lined up right then use a 1/4" ratchet and 12mm socket and loosen the tensioner, pull it back out of the way and tighten it down. I usually use a razor blade to shave a little off that lower cover to get to the tensioner pulley bolt. Should be an easy fix!



If you take the crankshaft pulley your looking at there off, you'll find the lower timing belt cog, it has a U shaped notch in the top of it that gets lined up with the pointer.