timing the timing chain

[yeager]

I have a 1977 450sl that was in need of a timingchain, upper rails, and tensioner. After reading my manual (vague at best) and nearly every thread posted on this site, I decided to undertake this operation. Everything went smooth up until the point I got help from my wife to feed the new chain over the cam sprocket while I was turning crank with a ratchet. With about half of the new chain in the motor, her hand slipped and the chain came off the cam sprocket. When that happened, both cams rotated due to valve spring pressure. Then a fair amount of cussing took place and my helper was no longer my helper. Since then, I have bought her roses and we are still married. The only way I could figure to get the number one piston to tdc and the cams in the correct position, was to remove the cams so all the valves were closed so I could start over feeding the chain back thru the motor . The passenger side cam came off with no problem but the driver side cam could not be removed because three of the bolts were stripped out. By moving the crank a few degrees then doing the same to the left cam, I got the motor back to tdc and camshaft mark realigned. After reinstalling the right cam, I was able to get the new chain snaked all the way thru the motor and connected to itself with a master link. With this complete, the new rails, tensioner, and chain were installed. I turned the motor over several times with a ratchet and rechecked the timing. When the right cam marks were aligned, the timing indicated 12degrees atdc. I thought maybe the right cam was off one tooth. So I rotated the cam one tooth and it showed 6 degrees btdc. Thinking that the cam sprockets were worn, I replaced both cam sporckets. Doing that had no effect on changing the timing. I then ordered 4 degree offset woodruff keys and installed them. They did little or nothing to change the timing. Next, I used a dial indicator with a probe in the number 1 cylinder to verify that the crank timing marks and the timing pointer were accurate. The dial indicator did show the piston was at tdc with timing mark "O" aligned with the pointer. Forgot to mention, the driver side or left cam marks are aligned perfectly. What do I do next? - sledge hammer, five gallons of gas, matches, case of beer and a big mercedes bond fire. Any help would be greatly appriciated for this frustrated individual.