My 96 2v was taken apart by somebody else. The cam was out of the one head and the crank was turned while the heads were off. The marks on the chains are worn off and I have no idea how to set the timing right.
Can anyone give me some advice?

 

Start by turning the engine to top dead center and begin from there.

 

I turned the crank so that the keyway is at 9 o'clock, which I think is TDC. Where should I turn the cams? And how can I make sure the cam sprocket is in the right location on the cam?

 

Can anybody help me out? I can't seem to find anything about it in the manual.

 

Try here:
https://mustangforums.com/m_3081129/tm.htm

And you can thank the Ox man for that sticky.

 

Thank you.

 

If I turn the crank from 9 o'clock to 12 o'clock, will the pistons hit the valves on the heads? The chain is not on and Ox man says to put the keyway at 12.

 

You don't want to turn the crank at all. Move the cams to put the chain on. Make sure each chain is mark by folding the chain and marking the exact opposite ends links. Then with the crank at 9 put both of the chains on, with the guides in place (no tensioner) and being careful line the middle of both mark links with the cam key and the crank key.

 

ok, ill see what I can do withough hurting anything. Thanks for all the help.

 

I put cams in mine a few weeks back and had a few ptv problems meaning I had to take take the cover off a total of about 5 times and set the timing and make adjustments MANY times. Here is the easiest way I can tell you...

1. Find TDC. The keyway at X oclock seemed to be bs for me. Different books,websites,write ups all said different stuff and none seemed to be correct. Put the front cover on and hold i it on by a few bolts which dont have to be torqued or anything, put the crank pulley on and turn it until the crank pulley mark lines up with the tdc mark. Other way to do it is with a tdc stop and degree wheel

2. Fold the chains in half, using an automatic punch, nail polish etc mark the end links

3. line up one mark on the mark on the crank, line up the mark on the other end with the marks/dots on your crank gear

do this for both sides and youre good to go