That's right on spec.

You're going to need to leave this alone, unfortunately........otherwise a massive investigation is needed as to why the damper doesn't match the cam marks.

I hear you. Ain't broke, don't fix!

There's something I just noticed looking at this timing check how-to however:

http://www.peachparts.com/Wikka/OM617TimingChainStretch

Noticing the alignment of the cam in the pic (#8) where he shows the final reading on his dial indicator, I turned mine to match. Now I realize that it's not accurate since I'm eyeballing it, but it DOES bring the marks around and now mine looks like what's shown in his next pic (#9).

I noticed he is using the intake on cylinder 1 to measure the lift. Will have to get a gauge and try this method.

Maybe this is the reason the FSM says to use the gauge method only (at least I think I recall someone saying that).

__________________
1984 300D Light Blue/Blue
2006 C280 Silver/Black

That would be a valuable check and would confirm that the washer on the cam is the culprit if everything checks out OK.