I have been working on my 1974 124 Spider 1800 and couldn't see where to align the crank. Today I looked at the cover and saw the three marks on that; short, medium and long raised marks in the cast aluminum. Does that mean you have to put the cover on and set the crank, then take the cover off and thread the belt? Doesn't seem right. Is there another way to align the crank with the cover off? Thanks, C.

I always used the mark on the timing belt cover (long one is TDC).

Some old twink engines had a metal pointer fixed to the front of the engine block.

The east/west engines had a hole in the gearbox bellhousing to line up with a mark on the flywheel but I don't think the north/south engines had it.

Dave.

is it safe to presume that you are talking about replacing the timing belt?

if so, that process is completely different than setting the timing for a properly running engine.

more detail to the project you are attempting, please.

Crispin said:

I have been working on my 1974 124 Spider 1800 and couldn't see where to align the crank. Today I looked at the cover and saw the three marks on that; short, medium and long raised marks in the cast aluminum. Does that mean you have to put the cover on and set the crank, then take the cover off and thread the belt? Doesn't seem right. Is there another way to align the crank with the cover off? Thanks, C.

Click to expand...

My guess is he's talking about replacing the timing belt.

Dave.

My engine was seized and I have it free now. I had to cut the timing belt off without first lining up all the marks. I assumed the marks for the crank would be there somewhere and when I couldn't find them, I looked at the cover. So that leads to my question above.
I did the timing belt on this car about 22 years ago but don't remember anything about it..... C.