Cant aline the dial gauge with the valve lifter on EW10 engine

hello, im working on a EW10 peugeot 307 engine, and i cant aline the dial gauge with the lifter, because i have the cam over the lifter, i have no where else to locate the dial gauge. What should i do on that situation?

It's not an engine I'm personally familiar with. Can you post a couple of pics of the cam/lifter?

Is this an OEM refit or checking the timing of aftermarket camshafts?

Either way, consider the purchase of the correct timing tool kit as that way you can get the correct OEM or a close approximation for an aftermarket that can be dialed in with vernier sprocket/gears/pulleys. They may seem to be a bit pricey, but cheaper than a rebuild and you may be able to share the cost between several Pug owners.

If you are doing something that needs accurate timing, the DTI doesn't actually need to be directly in line with the follower - just needs to be repeatable so the DTI reading is the same for the same follower position as the engine is rotated. Since you are using the split timing method, as normal practice, for the travel, it isn't important if the DTI is the actual travel. For example, if the DTI always shows 5mm at 4mm of follower movement, you would use the 5mmDTI figure for checking against the timing disc.

The fine adjustment will only be a few degrees, at most from the OEM, so use the OEM method for initial positioning and work from there.