Been out of town and contact. The cam is flush with the face of the timing gear, had it pressed on at the machine shop. The cam retainer has .026in clearance to the gear. The depth of the cam in the block is set by the cam retainer, when you bolt it down the cam can't move more than the .026in fore or aft. so I'm relative sure the cam is in the right place. The fore and aft clearance at the thrust bearing is .016in. Doesn't leave much room for the crank to be out of place. The timing mark on the new cam gear is in the same place as the old, relative to the woodruff key slot. The cam gear and crank gear are lined up with each other. I seem to remember the same problem when I assembled the engine 30yrs ago but can't remember what it was. I'm sure it's a slap your forehead/duh thing.
