setting TDC to the CAS
 

i pulled the CAS out because i had to switch front covers, i know there is a mark on the CAS with a arrow on it, my guess is put the pully's on and lighn up the marks with the timming needle and then set the CAS and then drop it in. am i correct, and the front pully's only go on one way right?

Line up the pulley with the yellow mark (on the right) with the needle. Take the top cover off the CAS. Hold the CAS in your hand and look on the bottom of it. There is a dimple there. Line up the dimple on the bottom of the CAS shaft and then look at the top of the CAS with the cover off and note where one of the 2 teeth on the top CAS gear are in relation to the CAS body. When you stab the CAS the shaft will rotate so you need to adjust it so that when the CAS is fully stabbed you have the tooth in the same place as where it was in relation to the body. Let me know if you need me to explain it more clearly.

I have been wondering about this myself and havent had time to look at it. I understand lining up the timing marks on the pulley. But is there a mark on the gear that drives the cas as well?

Line up the mark on the front cover and then insert the cas so it looks like this with the cover off.

http://www.supload.com/thumbs/default/MazCAS-2s.jpg

can i just lighn up the first mark with the needle and the the second one is the pic of the marks on the CAS

I need to know the same thing...I dont have marks on my front pulley and need to get my CAS in correctly on my rebuild, if you find out..please share.

TDC--IS when the keyway on the E. Shaft (behind the front pulley bolt) is facing 9 o'clock--
eg--facing the exhaust ports, and two of the front pulley bolts are in line with the timing marker point, this is TDC--(Don't remove or loosing the front pulley bolt without seeing what has to be done to hold the torrington bearings--(go to www.mazdatrix.com/faq/pulley.htm to see what I mean)
To work out how many MM's are Deg' (so you can mark the pulleys timing marks from TDC) take your pullys outside DIA and times by pie---eg--3.1415926, this will give the circumference, once you have this--divided by 360 (this is degrees) and this will give the MM's pre Degree.
mark off from TDC.
Hope this is not to confussion for you
(I had pics and diagrams that showed how this was done)

[QUOTE=1SxyRXy]can i just lighn up the first mark with or

Your not paying attention. Listen to the Spyder who supplied you with a picture of the cas when the timing is correct.

Why did you make a picture of the pulley hub?????? The marks are on the pulley, not the hub. They are scratches on the rear of the pulley. Align the first mark on the pulley with the fixed pointer on the front cover. Install the cas with the top cover of the cas off and the bottom marks on the cas aligned. Then rotate the cas body until the top of your cas looks like the Spyders. Note how Spyders top *gears* on the cas just cut across the edge of the black coil assy's.

Then start the engine and use a timing light to set the timing.

i was just wondering why they have that mark on the hub then, it seems like a TDC mark or something, well to late for that bearing thingy, i already pulled the bolt out but i used a impact gun lets hope im not screwed. the only thing i revoved were the pully's and the oil pellet i basicly just pulled the front cover off to swap it out for an S4

Yes, lining it up via the line and dimple on the bottom of the CAS gear is the correct way to do it. Trying to do it via the 2 screws under the cover for the CAS is pointless, you have to remove the CAS anyways, so just do it the right way.

i already removed the CAS and lighned up the dimple and the arrow thing, just wondering what had to be lighned up on the pully's

There should be 2 marks, one red and one yellow (but sometimes the paint has flaked off over time). Looking down at the pulling from the top, they should be on the back edge of the pulley, yellow is leading (on the right), red is trailing (on the left). Align front cover pin to the yellow (right) mark, then remove CAS, line up, insert back in. You must do the CAS after you align the marks.

Two screws under the cover??? What are you talking about?

If you align the bottom of the cas gear with the fixed mark on the cas body then take a look at the internal teeth of the cas in relation to a fixed point inside the cas, then you'll be able to tell if the cas is still aligned after you install the cas. The shaft on the cas will move as you install the cas. IF you observed the internal gears in the cas prior to installing the cas, you can now rotate the cas body til those points again align. If they're aligned you can be assured that the bottom gear of the cas is still aligned.

If you align just the gear at the bottom on the cas with the cas body, and then stab the cas, you havn't a clue how far off the shaft has rotated from the mark on the cas body.

Lots of people on this forum, from what I've read, seem to tell people when stabbing the CAS to align to to these milky screws (circled in red).

http://home.comcast.net/~rx7projects/cas.jpg

Obviously if this is all you do and don't pay attention to the mark/dimple on the bottom gear, this can be in 2 different positions, one of which is 180º off. Since spyder didn't mention this I figured he was another person that was just saying to do it this way.

Obviously after you align the mark with the dimple on the bottom gear, you want to have the cover off to hold the gear in place as you stab it.

This might be a stupid question, but what do you mean by stabbing it? Inserting the gear?

Yes.

well i figured that the gear would move a little once i put the CAS in , im just wondering what that dimple is on the hub where the pullys go on to, the first picture i posted

im having the same problem. i did what this post said and still no fire. L! and L2 r the front rotor right?

L1 is front rotors leading plug (the one at the bottom.. closest to the sump)
L2 is the rear rotors leading plug (closest to sump...)

What difference does this make? The CAS spins at 1/2 the eccentirc shaft speed. If you stab the CAS rotated 180 degrees, the engine still runs exactly the same, and timing is exactly the same. If you stab the CAS this way, and rotate the engine one full turn, the dimple will now be lined up.
The dimple is simply an idiots way of aligning the CAS to TDC. It can be completely ignored if you know how to align the toothed wheels to the VR sensor.