Alright so I was gunna wait for tomorrow to put all the parts back on and start the car but after reading some horror stories on the forums about timing belt installations gone wrong I decided to start it this evening.

So I hook up the battery and crank the car starts right up but doesn’t sound right. I press the gas and it almost stalls. ****** im thinking. How could this happen (maybe cause I didn’t use proper timing bar). Well I shut it off and look at the engine and the first thing I notice is all 3 spark plug wires are unplugged on the left head. I plugged them back in and walla….she pers like a kitten. Press the gas….she growls like a tiger. No check engine light or anything (I was more worried about the check engine light than anything).

Well what I did was I put 2 marks on each cam gear and timing belt and counted the teeth. Also I drew an A, B and C on the timing belt depending on what pull that part of the belt should be on. Then I simply transferred the marks over to the new timing belt and if both marks per gear lined up in knew I did it right. Also I made a bar myself not for timing purposes but just to lock the cam gears in place.

Btw people say you have to be 3 teeth off to damage your engine. I’m not saying they’re wrong but from my experience the timing has to be way off for the engine to be damaged. I had a 900 turbo that had a timing chain that was off at least 3 or 4 teeth (it jumped timing) and it did no damage to the valves. I just had to re-time it. Keep in mind that was a timing chain not a belt. 3 teeth is like an inch off (at least 10-15 degrees).

if u look close u can see the marks i drew with a whiteout pen.



and my homemade cam locker!

 

Good job. Didnt you start this job like last Firday though???

 

nope started it this morning...remeber my post about that damn reverse threaded fan......stupid haynes manual! speaking of my stupid manual..does anyone know the torque spec on the water pump. my manual didnt have it listed.

 

Oh ya.. For the waterpump, just tighten them down in a criss cross pattern until they are all real tight. You dont need to put all your weight on the wrench, just pretty tight. Did you use some gasket sealer on the waterpump gasket??

 

I love this forum...

 

lol DITTO

 

woot, good job dude, i bet you saved an *** load DIY

 

Yeah when I did my water pump on my 96 last year it took me 3days stupid rain.

 

these cars will **** them selves if they are even a tooth ot two off because to the very close tolerances with the valves, i have had older cars skip a tooth no prob just runs crappy but these will cause the valves to hit the pistons and it just goes down hill from there, glad you got it done with no probs man

 

Good work, welcome to the club.

We know who to call on the next time a 2.8 TB noob comes calling about how to remove the fan!