How to change your timing belt

ADrewzki · 05-15-2005, 11:17 AM

I used to get a lot of timing questions so I ended up taking a bunch of pictures and finally got around to writing this. I've read a few complaints saying that the timing belt page on vfaq is difficult to understand. Hopefully this will make it a little clearer to those sissies who were complaining (haha). I've also tried to mark things so it's easier to see. And please note that this was done on a 6-bolt swapped engine with the balance shafts removed.

Also note that I'm not to be held responsible if you somehow manage to screw up your engine while changing out your timing belt.

1. Loosen the lugnuts on the front driver's side tire and put your car up on jack stands. If you need a picture for this, take your car to a shop right now.

2.Remove the tire and take off the splash guard that's behind it.

ADrewzki · 05-15-2005, 11:18 AM

3.Support the engine because you'll be removing the engine mount on the drivers side. I simply used a jack with a block of wood. Due to my block of wood being puny, I used a bunch of newspaper too.

ADrewzki · 05-15-2005, 11:20 AM

4. Remove the engine mount. I found it was a little easier to take it out if you remove the bracket in the way. While you're near there, take off the timing belt cover too.

ADrewzki · 05-15-2005, 11:21 AM

5. Start getting ready to take belts off the car. Loosen the water pump pulley bolts.

ADrewzki · 05-15-2005, 11:22 AM

6. Loosen the alternator tensioner, power steering bolts, and the AC tensioner. Do the alternator first. Alternator tensioner is blue. Power steering bolts are green. Note: there are 4 power steering bolts and you may have to turn the pulley to access the one at the bottom through the hole in the pulley.

ADrewzki · 05-15-2005, 11:23 AM

6 cont'd Here's a picture of the ac tensioner bracket. It's located behind the block. You may have to unscrew it (green) a bit to release the tension. Once you have slack in all the belts, take them off the engine.

ADrewzki · 05-15-2005, 11:24 AM

7. Remove the water pump pulley. This can be a pain in the butt. I find that the easiest way is to put a large pipe or bar between the mount bracket and the body. Be careful not to crush those small pipes that are closeby.

ADrewzki · 05-15-2005, 11:25 AM

8. Remove the AC tensioner bracket. Two bolts in green.

ADrewzki · 05-15-2005, 11:27 AM

9. Now that all the belts are off, you can take off the crank pulley. When you have the pulley, look for the timing mark. I usually put a little white-out on it so that I can see it easier once everything is put back together.

ADrewzki · 05-15-2005, 11:28 AM

10. There should be nothing obstructing you from taking off the timing cover...so, uh, take off the timing cover. It should look like the picture once you've got it off. You'll notice an acorn by my oil pump. I used to park under an oak tree and the squirrels would leave me "surprises."

ADrewzki · 05-15-2005, 11:30 AM

10 cont'd. Here's a shot of all the acorns that fell out. I just thought it was funny and somewhat of a miracle my belt or my timing is messed up.

ADrewzki · 05-15-2005, 11:31 AM

11. Loosen the timing belt tensioner pulley with a 14mm socket. Once loosened, the timing belt will get a lot of slack in it allowing you to take it out. The picture is a shot from the bottom of the engine looking up. Sorry it's blurry.

ADrewzki · 05-15-2005, 11:32 AM

12. Now that the belt is off, remove the auto tensioner. You will have to recompress it. Use a c-clamp or vise and put a small allen key (or other similar object) into the hole to keep it compressed. Please note that this is a 1g auto tensioner because I have a 6 bolt in my car. A 2g auto tensioner will have a bolt on each side.

ADrewzki · 05-15-2005, 11:33 AM

13. The motor should look something like this now. Notice again, I don't have balance shafts. It's a little dirty so clean it up nice. You can see where the auto-tensioner used to be. I put a green dot on a particular hole just as a side note. I had an oil leak near the top of my front cover and I believe it was due to a missing bolt where the green dot is. CAPS says it is 8mm. It's actually a 10x1.25x30 bolt that goes in there.

ADrewzki · 05-15-2005, 11:34 AM

Time to put everything back together!!

14. Rotate that crank so that it is NOT at TDC (top dead center). You're doing this so that you don't risk pressing a valve into a piston as you rotate your cam gears into the right position. The timing marks on your cams should be pointing at each other. Don't worry about getting them exact just yet.

ADrewzki · 05-15-2005, 11:36 AM

15. Put your auto-tensioner back on the cover. Use a little bit of thread sealant because there is oil on the other side of that bolt. Sorry. No pic for this one.

16. Put your new timing belt on and put it into position on the cam gears. I generally start with the intake cam gear and put a vice grip on it. Most people use plastic clips but I don't have any so I use a vice grip wrapped in a shop towel. Rotate the exhaust cam gear, put the belt on it, and check your marks. Feel free to put another vice grip on the exhaust side as well.

WRONG!!!

RIGHT!!!

ADrewzki · 05-15-2005, 11:38 AM

17. Now that you have your timing marks aligned, run the timing belt down around the pulley to the oil pump and around the crank sprocket. Technically, since I don't have balance shafts, the orientation of the oil pump doesn't matter but I'm showing it lined up anyway. Also, you can now rotate the crank to TDC (top dead center). Notice that the arrow on the oil pump is pointing at the mark on the cover. Also, the 1g crank times up around 1 o'clock (red dot). The 2g will line up around 11 o'clock (green dot).

ADrewzki · 05-15-2005, 11:39 AM

18. Now run the rest of the timing belt around the timing belt tensioner pulley. All the slack on the belt should be between the exhaust cam gear and the crank sprocket. If you have a large amount of slack somewhere else, take the belt off the oil pump and crank sprocket and try try again. The belt should be routed like the green. If you still have balance shafts, check out vfaq.com on how to align your balance shafts.

ADrewzki · 05-15-2005, 11:40 AM

19. I kinda stopped taking pictures at this point so bear with me. The tensioner pulley is on a bracket that is going to swivel and move. Take your hand/screwdriver/whatever and hold the bracket down while applying tension to the belt. Tighten the bolt in the center to hold the tension. If it's reasonably tight, you'll probably be ok once you pull the pin on the auto-tensioner.

20. Double check that everything is kosher and that your marks on your cam gears are still pointing at each other and that all the other marks are where they should be. Then pull the pin on the auto-tensioner and leave it alone for 5-10 minutes. Feel free to take off the vice grips/clips or whatever you used on the top to hold the belt in place.

ADrewzki · 05-15-2005, 11:41 AM

21. Take a 1/2 ratchet or breaker bar and turn the engine over by hand. 6 times should be good enough for you to see if everything still lines up. If it does, congrats. The hard part is done!

22. Pretty much everything else is the reverse of taking it off. Ha, don't you hate directions like that? Put the covers back on. Then the accessory pulleys and belts. Finish off with the engine mount. Make sure everything is torqued down pretty well. Remember to time it with a timing gun. The timing mark should be relatively easy to see because you put some white-out on it, remember?

Questions, comments, gripes: Email me at andrew@akchun.com or leave me a PM.
Pics taken December 27th, 2004
I'm taking credit for all the pictures and the writeup!

Link to Mitsu CAPS program for all your part lookup needs.
Link to this same page hosted on my page.