You got it right. If you notice when you put the intake cam in, there's a spot where it will sit without compressing any valves. The easiest way to put the exhaust cam in is to have this done to the intake cam, bolt it down and look at which dot is facing up. Simply place the exhaust cam on the gear so the dots align then "roll" it down into its slot in the head. You can then bolt it down and turn the engine over a bit and the dots will line up perfect, every time. I had to do a few camshaft switcheroos with my performance cams and this is by far the easiest way to line them up perfectly.

Another tip is to find the dots on the one side and PAINT THEM ON THE OTHER SIDE YOU CAN ACTUALLY SEE! Hear that Toyota??? That's probably one of their only blunders on the 5VZ-FE engine. They must have built the engine facing the other way in the factory or something because the dots are stupid hard to see.

Also, someone else was asking if you can accidentally put the wrong camshafts in the wrong side of the head. The answer is no. You may get two in but once you get to the other side they will be too long and you'll realize the mistake before you can finish.

I got both cams in on the passengers side, but on the drivers side, when I put in the exhaust cam and rotate the intake cam to get it to seat fully, the gears will start to mesh, and then it’s as if the teeth aren’t large enough, or there’s not enough room and I can’t rotate the intake cam anymore. on the other side I just rotated the intake and the exhaust cam seated properly. Any ideas??

Hello. I apologize in advance for hijacking a thread, but it states I have to reply a fee times before I can post.

Heads cracked on my 2k SR5 with the 3.4.

Started in June, got thr new heads in August.

I have a factory service manual and have been using that as a guide.

Work that was done:
New heads and cams
New front and rear O2 sensors
New NGK coils.
New plugs, double electrode platinum

Got her back together, it starts right up and sounds great. However, as soon as you give it any gas, it stalls for a second. Then will make almost a popping sound and then slowly struggle to build rpms. This is at full throttle.

1/4-3/4 throttle trying to flutter the throttle will make it run worse, and the rpms just stager around. Letting off the throttle it returns to idle and sounds fine.

There is no CEL turning on.

I dont have a scanner or a code reader but willing to get one. Especially if it can store codes with out turning the CEL on. A real time reader would be preffered.

Checked the ohms on the TPS. They fall with in range according to the SM. Albeit both values on the lowest side of the ranges.

Ohms look good on the MAF as well. Could not obtain much of a reading for the voltage test.

Wires to the drivers side bank are attached to the correct coil pack.

Cam installation went smooth accorded the SM using the 1 dot on one side, two dots on the other. Cam to crank timing appeared to be spot on, after checking a few revolutions by hand.

Seems as if its being starved for fuel

If anyone has ideas on where to start looking, I'd greatly appreciate it.

not being there to hear the engine or c the work the 1st thing that comes to mind is a vacuum leak.... get a can of brake clean and spray around the engine and c if the engine rpms change

Did you ever figure this out?

It's rather old but it sounds like he got the cams wrong. It should be one dot matched to one dot, then rotate 180 degrees to show two dots matched to two dots.