well i did my waterpump and timing belt a few weeks ago and wanted to post a lessons learned, it might help it might not, but here goes. i have learned from previous experiences to have all your parts and tools that you will need bought and readily accessible before you start. that only "manual" that i used was the info on shotimes, very helpful, except that it does not tell you everything or how to put it back together!! but that is fairly easy. i read it a few times before starting and just left the webpage up and came in the house to see what was next (prining it would be much easier, but i dont have a printer and forgot to do it at work?!) the most troublesome part i had was removing the timing belt, when removing it the marks on the belt will never line up (ok, if its a blue moon in the fall of and odd numbered year) just ensure the cam spockets and the crank sprocket are lined up. i was trying to line up the marks on the belt with the pulleys just to take it off!! dont trust the local parts stores, its not their faults. autozone sold me an alt/ac belt that did not fit, it was the correct part number for them, but!! grrr. oh well i got that all figured out. when using a puller, use common sense. there is a little cone shaped hat that stops the allthread from screwing itself in the whatever it wants to, i messed up my threads on my crank because of that, no big issue, now. but on a saturday evening trying to find a 14x1.5 tap!!! and of course no one who would have on was open on sunday, thank god for long weekends. the forum is a great help, almost everyone has had the same problems at one time or another. and a way to speed up on clean up, buy a big bag of rubber gloves, the surgical non-powder kind. i have been doing this for a while, and you do loose some dexterity but if you really need the feel for one or two bolts or screws, take off your glove. a strong flash light is very helpful also. all in all fairly easy job, no major tool purchases, just a $8 lifetime warranty wratchet, a $4 lifetime warranty 19mm socket, a $15 dollar allen head socket set, oh yeah and the $25 14x1.5 tap!! the ratchet is not functioning properly after using the bump-start method for the removal of the crank bolt. when turning the crank with the road wheel, make sure the car is in 5th gear and the drivers wheel is in the ground, or put a pipe through the wheel so it hits a solid piece of the suspension and prevents the wheel/transmission/engine from rotating. when you remove a bolt, put it back where it came from as soon as you can, then you will know where all the bolts go, just an opinion. does not add much time and keeps your work area a bit cleaner. and if all else fails, post topics on the forum or call your local sho club. hope this can help someone out.
jon
jon
