Hello,

My first post here. My friend has a (stock) 2006 mini cooper ( non-S ) and wanted me to change his Timing Chain set (chain, cam sprocket, crank sprocket, tensioner and chain guides ), he wanted to stay stock and wanted all parts from mini\bmw.

So before saying yes to this job and I have some few questions, I reviewed the bentley manual and also watch some youtube videos, I am kind of lost on how to setup the base timing.

1. When it's time to remove the Chain & then the crank sprocket. How do you lock the CRANK so that it will not move ( when removing the crank sprocket)? this is where I get lost. You tube videos and bentley never mention this.

2. Now let's say it's time for me to put in the chain, I got the cam sprocket covered, the cam sprocket arrow and single colored chain link they are set at 12 o'clock. For the crank arrow markings where do you set them? Bentley manual's image was set to 6 o'clock, so i watched some youtube videos to get some confirmation and guess what. Some set at 3 o'clock and some at somewhere 8-9 o'clock. Maybe different year model have different timings?

3. On W10/W11 engines how do you really set the timings? is it based on the sprocket position or based on the timing chain links? ( when I say sprocket position, set the sprockets in position then matched the timing chain links with arrows; for chain - set the cam and chain in position then wherever the "timing chain link" goes, set the crank arrows there or count the how many links from cam sprocket ).

4. On W10/W11 engines where do you the set the timing? is it always on TDC?

Thanks in advance...