Blew a head gasket on this car and am in the process of replacing the heads. Installed and torqued both heads, aligned the cams sprocket marks at 12 oclock in relation to the heads, as per the diagram. The crank is at the 5 oclock position and the groove on the crank endshaft matches to the triangle on the block.

Problem 1: Ready to torque them down but the left bank doesnt want to stay at 12 oclock while tightening. As I examine further, it calls for torquing down the camshaft bearing caps, then proceeding to timing. With the cams at 12 oclock, the right cam timing sprocket is at 12 oclock but the left cam timing cog is at about 9:30. The right bank will stay at 12 oclock in relation to the head but when I try to rotate the cam timing cog to 12 oclock, the cams begin to actuate the lifters for both the exhaust and intake valves, causing resistance.

Problem 2: According to the timing diagram, the camshaft timing chain cog with the triangle on the left, circle on the right need to be at 12 oclock. This would call for the left bank to be rotated from 930 to the 12 oclock while the crank remains stationary.

I dont want to jam valves into the tops of cylinders while rotating to the new positions. Why dont they mention having to rotate the cams before installing the timing chain and which do I complete first, torquing the bearing caps or aligning the cam timing sprockets?

 

May have figured it out. Let the Cam timing sprockets float after I installed the timing chain guides and tensioner. As I spun the timing chain around, I lined up the cam timing sprockets to the marked links on the timing chain.