Setting camshaft timing on 1988 2.0

[borlax]

The bolt that holds the gear to the auxiliary shaft for the distributor fell out and the gear started walking off which made my timing jump real bad. Before I try to set it I'd like to make sure I understand how the camshaft timing marks work. There's a diamond that covers the width of one tooth on the cam gear, and three prongs below the tooth. How are those supposed to line up? I understand that I take out plug #1 and and put my thumb over the hole, crank the engine until I feel the pressure, look in the hole and when I see the piston stop moving upward that's TDC on the compression stroke. I know how to line the distributor up to #1 as well. It's the camshaft marks I don't understand. I can post pictures if need be. Thanks for any help

 

[Mikel89us]

Put the cam mark on the center mark of the rear cover. And you should be able to do the thumb trick but once you find the compression stroke, do not attempt to line it up be watching the piston, use the crank timing marks for best accuracy.