.CB23 to 61 valve timing alignment.

This is for the single overhead cam three pot:

On the driver's side of the engine is a black plastic cam belt cover. It is a two piece construction. The top piece is held on by four screws, two plainly visible at the top, a third also visible about 150 mm down and a forth also about 150mm down, but hidden by the water pump pulley. You should be able to use a ring spanner and fingers to get all of them out (even the difficult one).

Once the cover is off you will see the cam sprocket and belt.

To check alignment.....

Make sure the the battery negative is disconnected, so I don't get the blame for you losing fingers. Make sure the handbrake is on and a brick or something (mother in law) behind a back wheel to stop the car rolling while in neutral.

Locate the stamped dimple on the outer rim of the cam sprocket;

Locate a small cast projection that looks like a penninsula on the lip where the plastic cover was at about two o'clock position;

Locate the number one cylinder lead position on the distributer cap (it should be the one closest to the carby);

Take off the dizzy cap so you can see when the heal of rotor is pointing to where the number 1 lead is normally located;

Put car in neutral and with a ring spanner on the bolt head holding the drive pulley to the crankshaft, rotate the motor clockwise while keeping an eye on the dimple (on the cam sprocket);

Once the dimple is aligned with the cast penninsula (use a straight edge or ruler to ensure the centre the of the sprocket, the dimple and penninsula are aligned), check to see the dizzy rotor is pointing at number 1 lead position, then look for a dimple on the flywheel. [You will also notice the top spoke on the camshaft sprocket with a circle imprint is vertical. Invisible, but the woodruff key is also at top];

The dimple on the flywheel (located between the engine and gearbox) can be seen through a small square portal on top of the bell housing. It is not TDC, but a 5° on CB23 and an 8° BTDC mark on CB60 for your ignition timing. TDC is about 22mm away from this mark on the C60 (anti clockwise);

So if you rock the engine (rotating back and forth with your ring spanner)you should be able to find the flywheel dimple, imagine where TDC is and have that imaginary point aligned with the notch in the small square portal.

If all the planets are in alignment then its sweet. In not you will need to loosen off the belt tensioner and start skipping the belt to get it right.

Please note if you don't trust your eye to find TDC, take out number 1 spark plug and put a long straw down the hole to measure the piston height. When you rock the motor you will soon discover the highest point, by the straw protrusion length.

Note 2 if you really want to go to town you can strip off the drive pulley and everything else around the water pump, take off the lower plastic housing to reveal the drive sprocket that has its own alignment dimple and casting projection (=TDC). I prefer my method.