!. Do the shroud mod first while its on the vehicle above the side bolt holes with dremel or small cutting wheel tool or my preference a vibratory or oscillating tool you might even be able to use soldering iron. All you need to do is remove outlet intercooler hose to get better access on passenger side. This will save you time and trouble on this and any future access to serpentine belt etc. No real need to make any brackets etc it cannot move once back under freon lines etc. Takes 20 minutes or so.

2. Do TB from the top don't remove cowling pieces etc. after doing number 0ne. Saves about 3 or 4 hours. Not that hard to see.

3. Use air ratchet or battery ratchet if you have access to one, to remove all the accessories especially the outer timing cover seventeen 7mm bolts. Saves time and cuts fatigue so you feel like doing whole thing at once. Saves 20 minutes or more and scraped knuckles etc.

4. If Factory TB or retimed correctly by previous TB changer . The fuel pump mark is pretty easy to see. First turn crank to this mark if there is a crank shaft hole pointing almost straight up or just clockwise of straight up check cam pins. If no hole straight up mark fuel pump teeth to outer case with something ( I use Whiteout ) . Proceed to turn crank till marks on fuel pump line up again one or two more times until a crank bolt hole is straight up and then check cam pins. This method should make the crank pin hole correct the first time you crawl under to check it (saving time and your back knees neck etc.) If this doesn't work you can still mark cams and check other 180 degree position as in write-ups. This should also get you very close to cam holes without looking through oil cap saving more time. You probably want to start checking for cam pin hole about one TB tooth before the marks line up.

5.Once you get crank and cams and fuel pump all at 90 after TDC with pins Mark the hole of the crank that points almost straight up. this will help you get crank back there when rechecking later and after e tensioning most likely at least once. You can also transfer this mark with permanent paint etc to the crankshaft pulley bolt that you later screw into this hole on reassembly (though not particularly useful in this engine).

6. During reassembly after outer timing cover on, put serpentine tensioner back on first. and fan pulley on next. Others don't matter. If you forget and put power steering pump on first you will have to remove it again to put tensioner on. If you put lift ring on you will have to remove it to put it on with the fan pulley.

7. Use something like a drill bit smaller than bolt that will be used to line up hole especially on tensioner till get two pins on back to drop in to place then replace with the bolt. Same method for power steering pump etc. except leave the bit in one hole while starting one or two others then remove and replace with bolt. This saves a lot of time hunting for bolts holes and makes for easy restarting into threads.

8. You can create timing marks for the cams by putting them back on with the two teeth that are marked toward each other during reassembly (just like the slots with back cover off). One side will be slightly above the other put L on lower bolt or take pic before reassembly then you all always know when to put cam pins in.

9. If you do the Rockers: You will find out that it is difficult to tell at that point whether or not you knocked a rocker out of place in putting valve cover back on. (you just need to have seen it or tried it.) If you leave the crank pinned before back timing cover replaced you can put cam sprocket back on snug after removing the pin and rotate it clockwise slowly listening for valve operation and any metallic sound that might indicate rocker off. Remember if you do this you will need to repin the cam after checking them!!! You can also put sprocket on so that you can see the slot in the end of the cams so you can do one at a time and line up with the pinned side to aide in re pinning cam.

In other words you can rotate the cams clockwise to check rockers fairly easily . Though not 100 % , better than nothing in my opinion. Guess you could also do cylinder pressure test with air source to verify valve open ( at least one) and valve closure (all 4) if you figure out how I will leave that up to you. Or do it with belt back on before starting engine without air source.

10. Instead of using long ground off valve cover bolts as studs, Grind off bolts (I bought them at lowes 3 or 4 8mm x 1.25 x any 50 mm or longer) to use as studs on the center shorter valve cover bolt holes. This will give you much more clearance at firewall area to get valve cover to go straight down so as not to disturb rockers. Use ruler or board etc to screw them in fairly level with each other. Remember they will have to protrude from the center bolt holes with valve cover in place to be able to remove them (I used needle nose or fingers). Also make sure and put them in cover bolt holes not the injector clamp holes they are the same size on head! That may be what thermorex meant in his writeup since you can grind off the long bolts long or short but I got the impression he was using them in the long bolt positions, just not screwed in all the way.

11. If you had a leaky head gasket do coolant compression test after putting in ARP studs to verify you did or didn't seal it before reassembly or gasket replacement. Mine resealed with ARP Studs maybe will stay that way.

12. For timing belt I put all bolts with each accessory they bolt on and timing cover bolts in small magnet tray you could use baggie or whatever. Just make sure you know which bolts go where. Take multiple pics in case you need them and you may want to text yourself the pics with a label so you can use them in future even if you don't need them now.

13. If you need to, you can rotate the cams clockwise as many times as you wish with the crank pinned in 90 degrees after TDC (top dead center) without contacting pistons though you should do it slow and careful first full rotation just in case.

14. The valve cover will not be flat against the head when you replace it. You may think something is wrong. Its not! Remember some of the valves are supposed to be open but they are not because the cam lobes push them down. So as you tighten the cover the lobes will push the valve down until its sits flat on the head.

I know this is a little rambling and long but all or part may be helpful. writing while I still remember it.

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05 Blu LIM, OME GDE Tbo, wk II 245/75/17, KC Lights, bull bar, 195K H TC
05 Blu Lim, Dayton, GDE HT, 255/75/18 , 210K , H TC
06 Bla Lim, GDE Eco, Destination AT 245/75/17, 151K, H TC
06 D Khaki Lim 126K wkII Eur TC
05 D khaki Lim 145k refurbishing
All CRDS: Fumoto, Lift , Fan Shroud mod, fuel head Gen II, SAMCOS,self TB, 2 Mic filt, Hayden