Installing The Timing Belt.

[Grifter]

I did a search and couldnt much information.

I want to replace my timing belt pretty soon and was just wondering how difficult of a job it is. While I'm at it I will be replacing the water pump and CPS. SHOPhoenixProject.com has excellent step-by-step directions that I'll be using as a reference. I'm wondering if there's anything I should watch out for before I try to replace it and how long do you think it would take if everything were to go ok.

Thanks.

 

[Dr. Tweak]

I've done it three times, the last time took me a full 8 hours. I would give myself two days if I were you. The worst mistake you can make is to be in a rush.

If you are replacing the cam seals it may a while, but once you get the feel for how to do it it's not bad. The last time I did it the cam seals were done in 10 minutes.

Again, take your time. Make you sure you eat a good meal in the morning before you start, have some water with you, and if you have to go to the bathroom or get a snack, STOP and do it. I have the hardest time stopping work to do something like that, I'm like "No, I'll just hold it until I get this last thing done..." but you can't focus and you make mistakes and in the end it's sooo much easier and faster just to do it.

While on that subject, word of advice: don't cut corners. If there's a step and you think, "hey, i can skip over that and save time", think again. The step is there for a reason, and while yes you can sometimes get around it, at the end of the day you'll get done sooo much faster if you just did it the "long way" the first time.



When are you doing this? If you like I can give you my number so that if you get stuck on something you can just give me a call. Lemme know

 

[Grifter]

I'm not sure when I'm doing it next but I want to get it done ASAP. I dont think my car is in a dire need of a Timing Belt, but still.

Thanks for the advice. if you want, you can send me a PM with your number, I would really appreciate it.

 

[AutoSHO]

The timing belt is a pretty easy service. It typically takes me about 4 hours start to finish. Did it in a hurry on my friend's MTX in 2 1/2, but that was just the timing belt, no water pump, CPS, or front main seal.

Its basically a matter of:
Pull the Engine Roll Damper
Pull the PS Resevoir
Pull the Intake Crossover tube.
Put wrench on Crank Bolt and do the starter bump to pop it loose.
Pull battery & tray.
Pull Accessory belts.
Pull Alt/A/C Belt tensioner.
Pull Upper timing cover.
Pull crank damper. May have to jack up RF corner, remove wheel, and fender liner.
Pull mid and lower timing covers.
Align timing marks, release tensioner, and remove the old belt.

 

[fred79]

I agree if this is the first time doing the front 60k basics I would give your self 2 days. the hard part isn't the basic directions but figuring out how to get tools and parts were they need to go and in what order after that it is easy.
also I would suggest ounce you get the long bolts off the belt cover that you go to a pep boys or similar and get similar size to use to pull the vibrationdampener/crankpully.
also a regular pick will not go through the front main seal you need something pretty strong.(i tried to use a pick and I bent the tip back on it self. also assembly **** & a peice of 2 1/2 inch pvc pipe makes getting the front main seal easy to put in.

I also snapped a water pump bolt since my torque wrench wasn't working wright. so be carful that your torque wrench is set wright.

its not a hard job just a pain in the *****.

 

[Mr Anonymous]

Ok, maybe I'm just a quick study, but my first SHO timing belt change (including water pump, front main seal, and CKP sensor) took less than 6 hours and was my first time doing substantial work under the hood of a car in over 12 years. All I had to go by at the time was the Helms manual, although I did have immediate access to all the tools I needed.

While I wouldn't expect everyone to be so fortunate, I also wouldn't expect it to take more than a full 8-10 hour day. Planning two days seems a little extreme unless someone is all thumbs.

Most important thing is to have all the tools you'll need before you start the job so you don't have to run around for them once things are all apart. The AutoZone loan-a-tool program works great for this.

 

[Grifter]

So do you think I should change the front main seal while I'm at it. Seems like it would be the most logical thing.

 

[Mr Anonymous]

So do you think I should change the front main seal while I'm at it. Seems like it would be the most logical thing.

Indeed. $6 part.

 

[Grifter]

Alright, thanks.

 

[Brian Smith]

I just started on my front 60 this past sunday. I spent two hours and three ratchets getting the crank bolt loose. I highly recomend getting yourself a good half inch socket swivel head breaker bar and 19mm socket, then a length of steel/aluminum tubing to run to the GROUND. I found resting the ratchet/breakerbar on the subframe/wood on subframe succeeded only in throwing the ratchet/breakerbar across my driveway. Also the starter bump will break 3/8 ratchets (three to be exact). Mabey my bolt was torqued exceedingly tightly. After I got that loose it only took me about an hour to get everything taken apart down to removing the timing belt covers. This Sunday I will finish the job. I wish you best of luck, as i found it frustrating to be impeeded so early on in the job by the crank bolt. Hopefully you are more patient than I am.
It is really cool to get in there and see how things work though, this is the most extensive engine work I have done (my mechanical experience is pretty much just a front end body/radiator/misc. rebuild and routine stuff. Really quite rewarding to save yourself the 500+ dollar labor costs of having the job done at a shop. Finally, the Shophoenix instructions are invaluable, and well worth the toner to print out and have on hand when you are doing the job.

 

[shojuan]

I've done it three times, the last time took me a full 8 hours. I would give myself two days if I were you. The worst mistake you can make is to be in a rush.

That's damn good advice. :thumbs_u:

To all the first time job speed demons out there: Not everyone is blessed with the confidence in their DIY automotive repair abilities to get a typical weekend afternoon job done between the sunrise and sunset of one day. The less than ideal work environment that many people have at home doesn't help either. Chris gave some good advice, figure out all the tools you are going to need before hand and get them all ready and fill in the blanks with autozone rentals. They're great for specialized tools. If you're missing some of the basics then walmart can be a boon. You're not going to overspend on the Stanley tools there and the quality is just fine for a home mechanic.

While you're at walmart get a can of PB Blaster and you might even want a can of engine degreaser. It's much easier and far more pleasant to work on parts that are clean. If you're so inclined you might want to use the degreaser to clean the areas you are working on in advance. Regardless of whether you clean the area before hand or not pray all the fasteners in the area you'll be working on with PB Blaster. The job will be much more pleasant if you don't break any fasteners during removal and dousing the bolts with pb blaster really cuts down the odds of that happening tremendously.

 

[Bank of SHO]

I multiply by at least 3 the average time people say is needed for my first attempt at any service. This is because I take notes in a notebook and sketch a diagram of the part removed, its orientation, and the size and number of fasteners on a small page and place it and the fasteners in a ziplock baggie. This makes reassembly a breeze and future jobs much faster. Just reach for the appropriate baggie during reassembly. No guesswork. I consider these steps an investment. My susbsequent clutch jobs went smoother and quicker due to taking the time to do this. There are no brownie points for pitstop time. Keep your diagrams and baggies for future use.

 

[redalfa164]

For me the must crucial part this job is breaking the balancer bolt lose. I had to take out the three front spark plugs because of a combination of a weak battery and a super tight bolt but,once I got it loose it was pretty easy. Another tidbit I recommended a claw type balancer pulley because the pulley you rent from Autozone the bolts are made for Chevy 350s or Ford pushrod V-8s. Go to shotimes.com the site has a excellent walkthrough with pictures! Good Luck!

 

[Mr Anonymous]

Another tidbit I recommended a claw type balancer pulley because the pulley you rent from Autozone the bolts are made for Chevy 350s or Ford pushrod V-8s. Go to shotimes.com the site has a excellent walkthrough with pictures! Good Luck!

Huh? Unless AutoZone gave you the wrong tool, a standard yoke-style harmonic balancer removal set (often called a "bolt grip" set) is the proper tool for the removal of the crank pulley and timing sprocket. They almost always include the proper M8 puller bolts for the crank pulley, although they do not have the M6 bolts necessary to remove the timing sprocket. For the timing sprocket, you can use the two longest timing cover bolts on an MTX; for an ATX you'll need to find M6 bolts at least 80mm long at a local hardware or fastener store. FWIW, the SHO Rotunda tool kit includes the proper bolts too.

I would be very reluctant to use a jaw-style gear puller as it risks damaging the outer edges of the pulley, or separating the pulley parts. It also wouldn't be wise to use to remove the timing sprocket as it could damage the shutters so that there would no longer be a consistent gap between the shutters and the crank sensor.

 

[fred79]

the only reason I say two days is that I found I needed to get parts and tools part way through even after reading online articles. I probably only spent 8-10 full hours working on teh car and more time going to get parts and going back and forth from my house to my uncles garage i wanted to do this under a roof rather than outside.

 

[jimsho95]

im also doing the complete 120k upper/front on my 95atx can somebody tell me how to tighten/adjust the belt tensioner and how tight does it need to be. thanks.

 

[Brian Smith]

It is my understanding that both the atx and mtx utilize an automatic timing belt tensioner, though the instructions posted on sho phoenix say that it requires an 8 mm allen wrench to loosen and move the pulley out of the way, and mine requires a 5.5 mm allen wrench. I may be mistaken, but it is my impression that this is how the timing belt tensioner works.

 

[AutoSHO]

Only the ATX utilizes an automatic self tensioner. It is a charged hydralic piston.

The MTX uses a spring to set the tension, but is then locked in place by the nut. It does not self adjust.

 

[Brian Smith]

this makes sense...thus the longer interval for timing belt replacement on the atx?

 

[TimboSHO]

Isn't there a special tool you can rent from most autoparts stores to remove the vibration dampener?