Thanks, Jimmy57. That is the clearest explanation of the issue I've ever seen. It sounds like I'm on the right track- the most important thing is to make sure the vvt hub is able to reach its clockwise limit with the timing belt installed, and to make sure the position of the hub relative to the cam...

What he said... ^^^

I checked the wires and the voltage, 11.70-11.72. Then I took the coil packs out. There is standing water in two of the plug wells. Me thinks that is the problem. I'll have to call the shop that put the helicoil in. I'm guessing they tried to wash some of the oil that was on top of the head off. Sin...

The locating pin position has been moved from a central location between the two 10mm bolts to slightly right of that centre in later models.

Not sure when the break was however some time after 2002 is my guess. The crank sprocket on the right is from a 2004 XC70