Sprint Sprint ST 1050 2008 Cam shaft alignment

Hello,

I've had my sprint for nearly a year now and I've decided to do a full service including the valve clearances. I need to replace at least one of the shims so the cam shafts have to come out. Now the Haynes manual says that when the starter clutch bolt is in position T1 then both the cam shaft arrows should line up. No mater how many times I turn the engine they are always out of line. Please see photos for details.

Now its worth noting that this is how it has been set up ever since I bought it 6500 miles ago. I'm a bit stuck now as I don’t feel right putting it back together how it is but also don’t want to risk damaging the engine.

Can any one shed some light on this or does any one know what position the valves should be in on every cylinder when cylinder No. 1 is at TDC (top dead centre)

More photos


Cheers for any help!

Kevin

 

I've recorded the angles the engine is at when valves are at fully opened and fully closed
Inlet
Open @ 240 deg
Closed @ 600 deg
Exhaust
Open @ 530 deg
Closed @ 120 deg

 

I've removed the cam shafts.

The the cams for cylinder one are both at 120deg from vertical when the arrows line up.
This looks normal to me, but from my research some people are saying that if it is a few links out on the chain the engine would run poorly. I'm usually quite good at picking up problems with engines.

Looking at how it would have run in the incorrect position the exhaust valve is opening immediately after the maximum compression stroke rather than 60deg of the cam lobe later (120deg of the crankshaft). I don't think the valve would catch but surely this would affect the back pressure in the engine.

It has been this way since I bought it!

Any one got any thoughts?