E30 Zone

I am in the middle of changing a timing chain from my 318is. How do I know the cams are on TDC?..and the bolts on the cam's sprockets seem to be bolted in different angles (one side-all in the middle & angular in the second one..to the right)...and according to Brendan's site they shoud be 15 rivets (inclusive) of the chain from arrow to arrow on each cam-mine are 16 rivets inclusive...can I move it (one tooth)?
Thx

you should use the flywheel jamming tool to set the engine bottom end to TDC dude, use an 8mm drill bit for this.

you should now see the lobes on the camshafts on #1 cylinder are kinda / \ in relationship to each other, there are also flats on the rear of each camshaft, use a straight edge to ensure they are exactly parallel with the gasket face on the head

so thats the crank and cams setup correctly without needing the "special tools"

as for the chain and sprockets, as long as the crank and cams are set correctly the chain is irrelevant dude, If necessary slacken the sprocket bolts to set it all up and let the chain tensioner pull the "slack" for you, indeed if you cant get it spot on you can jump a tooth to get the slots in the correct position.

Useless fact time, M44 engine have the intake cam 6 degrees retarded when compared to the M42, its a dealer tweak to help with poor idle.

HTH

Many thanx ant.
Peter