A friend of mine has been in the process of replacing the head gasket on his 350SDL. He had the head shaved 6 thousandths and reinstalled it. He told me that if he lines up the cam marks then the crank is at 5* ATDC. If he lines up the crank then the cam marks are noticeably off. I went and verified this myself. He installed a new chain and tensioner. Now it’s only 3* ATDC, but still off from what he told me. I haven’t verified it this time.

Could the shaving of 6 thousandths off the head be the problem? Would a thicker head gasket be the solution? I’ve replaced head gaskets on enough of these MB diesels to know how to set the cam and crank timing, but everything I tried yielded 5* ATDC. Any words of wisdom?