Hello, I'm replacing the timing chain on my '88 300e and the timing marks don't line up. The key in the crank is straight up and down but the mark on the cam is off to the left (a little arrow pointing towards a small hole). As y'all can tell, I'm sorta new at this but I'm gonna be good!

Should I turn the crank alone to make the new chain match the sprockets exactly and leave the cam timing mark alone?

Should I turn the camshaft so that the timing mark is straight up and down?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

put the crank on zero and the cam has a little hole behind the gear it should be lined up with a small nub on the front rocker tower, it should face straight up

Thanks Hiho, I've set the crank to Zero on the original chain. The cam gear has a little hole with an arrow pointing to it on the front of it. With the crank at zero, the key for the balancer is straight up in the 12:00 position. I'm pretty sure this is correct but again, the cam gear has the little hole on the front with the arrow pointing to it. It's in the 3:00 position. Am I missing something? Of course, the number 1 cylinder is all the way up at TDC.

if you have manual there is a good pic, I tried to download it to here but its to large. if you look straight down on the cam behind the gear there is the hole, there is a peg on the cam and a arrow on the cam gear that should be at 9:00 when the crank is at zero

Thanks hiho, I see the hole and peg but it is at 3:00 instead of 9:00 and the crank is at zero.

Does the cam make 2 revolutions to 1 revolution on the crank? If so, I'm good to go.

Just the opposite.
Cam is 1/2 the rpm of crank...