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Hi Ben, Dave's suggestion is excellent, as having the genuine Toyota "Yellow Bible" on the K Series, is probably one of the best investments you'll ever make, if you are going to play with a K series engine. I got one early in my journey, which covers 2K to 5K-C, and it has been invaluable. Most functions of reassembling a K Series engine are straight forward, simple, & logical, but fitting the timing chain, & aligning the crankshaft & camshaft sprockets, is one area, where if you get it wrong, it can prove dissasterous, & cause a lot of frustration, after the engine is assembled & ready to test for the first time. By that time the engine is probably already back in the engine bay, & all hooked up. The alignment is critical, & is covered in the "Yellow Bible" & the Haynes/Gregorys manuals. Essentially the timing is carried out with the engine at TDC on no: 1 & 4 cylinder. The crankshaft sprocket should be fitted first to the crankshaft, with its key fitted. The crankshaft should then be turned slightly, if required, until the "dot" marking on the outer of the crankshaft sprocket is on the lower side of the engine, and is in line with an imaginary line passing through the centre point of both crankshaft & camshaft. (see diagram in pictures below) The camshaft is then rotated, without its sprocket until the locating pin for the sprocket, lines up with inner mark on camshaft retaining plate, which again, are all in line with the imaginary line, passing through the centre points of both camshaft & crankshaft. This is now the critical point. The camshaft & crankshaft cannot be allowed to move, whilst fitting the chain. With both sprockets on a flat surface, off the engine, fit the chain to both sprockets, such that when you pick up both sprockets & chain, that they slide onto the keyway (crankshaft) & locating pin (camshaft) without rotationally moving either sprocket. When fitted, a straight edge, (like a steel ruler) should line up with both outer sprocket marks & the centre points of both crankshaft & camshaft. Actually much simpler than it sounds, when you describe it, but it is important, because if the chain is out one or two links, then the engines valve & distributor timing will be out dramatically. Have a look at the relevant scans from the manuals below, & it should all gell, as "a picture paints a thousand words". P.S. The manuals refer to markings on the chain, which I've never been able to find, because the chains are old & discoloured. Whilst laying the sprockets on a flat surface, with a straight though the centre point of both sprockets, & sprocket markings, I've just put a dab on "white Out" on the relevant link at each end to assist. Good luck, & let us know how you go. Cheers Banjo

I was assembling a 3K on the bench at the weekend, & thought I take a few pictures of the fitment aligning marks for the timing chain, that might help those new to K Series engines, or that don't have a factory workshop manual. Getting this wrong, can cause great heartache, especially if you've assembled the engine & refitted it to the car, only to find, you've got it wrong. A dizzy fitted incorrectly, is easy to rectify, but a timing chain "refit", can be very frustrating. The camshaft & crankshaft must be in a precise postion, when the sprockets & chain are fitted. Toyota have provided some markings, which must line up. The crankshaft sprocket must be in the postion with no:1 & no:4 pistons being at TDC (top dead centre). The keyway for crankshaft sprocket should be at 12:00 o'clock. ie: vertical, with the engine horizontal. There is a small mark at about 5:00 o'clock, which I have marked with "whiteout" for these photos to make it a bit clearer. You can just see the "dot" in the pic above. The camshaft has two sets of markings. The location pin on the end of the camshaft that engages with the camshaft sprocket, must line up with the camshaft thrust plate alignment marker. Ensure the camshaft thrust plate is not fitted upside down, if you haven't already fitted the timing chain cover "back plate". The thrust plate is not synmetrical, as is shown in the pic above. These two markings are obscured, once the camshaft sprocket is fitted. The camshaft sprocket has a small mark at about 11 o'clock. The timing chain can usually be fitted with the crankshaft sprocket already fitted to the crankshaft, as long as the chain anti-vibration plate has not been fitted. The factory manual depicts two links on the chain 180 deg apart which are a different "colour", to aid in getting the next step right. Lay the chain out stretched with the chain in a straight line & mark two links, one at each end (white out). Fit the chain over the crankshaft sprocket, with one marked chain link lining up with the dot on the crankshaft sprocket at 5:00 o'clock. Fit the camshaft sprocket to the spretched chain so that the dot at 11:00 o'clock lines up with the other marked link. Taking care not to dislodge the camshaft position, the camshaft sprocket can then be located on the end of the camshaft, with the locating pin. Everything being OK, you should be able to hold a ruler or straight edge across the centre points of the camshaft & crankshaft, and the two markings on both sprockets should line up, as per the photo below. Slip the timing chain cover on, just using the location pins. With crankshaft key fitted, slip on the crankshaft pully. The TDC timing mark on the pulley should line up with 0 deg on the cover timing marks. The only proviso with this technique, is that if fitting a brand new chain, you may have to fit chain & both sprockets at the same time, as there may not be enough sideways flexibility in the chain. Cheers Banjo