Guys thank you all very much! i've settled the dizzy shaft at the 1 o' clock position and moving on from there! Super super thanks!!

Cam likely has been ground on a new billet (which has the gear already cut). The drive gear tooth start position ref the cam lobes would perhaps be different, the cam grinder knows it doesn't really matter what the orientation is for performance.

Thanks Colin! from a visual inspection side by side with the other spare engine i have .Both engine valves open and close at the same time! its just this camshaft teeth misalignment that confuses me, when everything else falls right into place...

Convention says that no1 will fire when the rotor arm is at 1 or 2 o'clock, but distributor position isn't so important .....

PROVIDED the rotor arm is close/touching the correct spark plug terminal when the jolt comes through, and everything else is on spec.

Perhaps you have a hairy cam re-ground from an stock 850  ??  This would result in a change of valve timing with respect to cam angle.  By using offest woodruff keys you set the correct valve timing - sometimes you may need to jump a chain tooth to get the valve timing right - so then you may find the dots on the sprockets do not line up. Once valve timing is correct, you put in the dissy drive so that when the points open, the rotor is at the right spark plug terminal.  As the dissy drive has 7 (?) teeth, you have a choice and may find your dissy as at an unusual angle.

This doesn't matter, apart from having to re-number the plug leads, but will be confusing for a new owner.

Check cam timing with a dial gauge (provided you know the spec of the cam - if you don't, your a bit snookered).

Jem i determined TDC with a pencil and the valves rocking at both engines! anyway i shall proceed this way and see what happens! Its just it never happened to me before and its freakin weird!!

Paul thanks for your input! the cam saga continues..

Looking at the photo's it would appear that the cams are a lot different! one having a smaller tooth count than the other could this be A+ verses non-A+ I don't know much about late stuff so am not really sure if there's a difference. but I can see you would have problem's getting anything to fit both cam's?

How have you determined top dead center?   There is really no 'exact' orientation for the distributor, and if you look at a handful of distributors, THEIR shafts are not even installed to the drive lug all that consistently.   First I would verify TDC....  Use a straw or pencil in the number one plug hole and lean on the car in 4th to slowly turn the engine.... don't trust the marks on the front pulley unless you verify for yourself!

Most factory distributors line the rotor up with the drive lug, which of course is offset slightly, so the distributor can only fit one way (once the drive spindle is installed in the block).  Most 'standard' orientations point the rotor at 1 or 2 O'clock for the number one cylinder.  I've noticed many recent aftermarket distributors have the rotor and drive lug at right angles to each other.... Don't let it drive you TOO crazy!!

Larry when i installed this engine i changed the timing cover seal and checked the dots for alignment they were spot on thats why its driving me nuts!

Maybe the cam is installed wrong ie sprockets not aligned dot to dot. The motor won't run very well like this.

Image Gallery

I managed to get some pics. First pic is another spare engine i have and second pic is the struggle. Both 998 A series units. Both pics taken at 0 mark TDC cylinder at the firing stroke.

Malcolm its killing me man! its OCD in the nuts! i've tried like a gazillion times! 

I don't think an offset key would move the dizzy drive that much. Just pull the dizzy drive out using a fine thread bolt so it does not fall into the gearbox case and rotate it one tooth then re install the distributor.

like is there any possibility they advanced the crankshaft with a different woodruff key altering the timing, could that be causing this?

Back home for a month, so I'm trying to pick up the timing issue i've been facing with a replacement engine! As i said in a previous post the dizzy shaft wont align to the stock position no matter or what! I've checked with another engine i got and It looks like the camshaft teeth is a tooth off when i try to insert the dizzy shaft to the original position! I know this is not a problem of functionality as all the other marks align perfectly and i can move on from there. But as i'm a demonic mechanic that wont sleep at night if i dont know whats really going on! I'd like to ask if theres a possibility the engine dont run a stock camshaft?! Since i've never stripped it apart and it came with a 12G295 head, i suspect a wilder camshaft?? maybe? has anyone faced a similar problem?

thanks in advance