[Shotimes] 60k reassembly questions.

[George Fourchy]

On Tue, 18 Jan 2005 15:12:55 -0500, Brent Running wrote:

>1) To remove the crank pulley I did as the proceedure says (slide 19mm socket over cap screw head, rest breaker-bar against sub-frame, turn key). I'm curious about reassembly though: How much torque? Do I have to take steps to keep the motor from turning?
>
>2) Timing belt tensioner. The advice I was given was to allow the tensioner to swing against the timing belt, tighten nut, turn motor 2 complete turns, loosen nut and then tighten again. I received this advice from a helpful v8sho list member. He admitted, however, that it had been awhile. Is this the correct proceedure?

It matters whether you have an ATX or MTX.  If your car is a stick, you torque 
the bolt one of two ways....actually you can also use the ATX methods, but they
are definitely a hassle.

The point is, you definitely must keep the engine from turning.  And that is very
hard to do on this engine, since all the front components under the damper are
plastic, and there is no place to insert a screwdriver or punch to keep the damper
still.  You must lock the engine either by putting a C-clamp on the damper to stop
it from turning, or put the car in gear (if it is an MTX) to lock the engine.  The
book does not say anything about how to lock it....we have had to learn by
experience.  The torque spec is from 113 ft.lb to 227 ft.lb.  The center of that is
120 ft. lb.  That is what I use.

When I do a manual transmission engine, I hope I have a helper to stand on the
brake.  Put the transmission in 2rd or 3rd gear, and have the helper stand on the
brake.  The problem here is that there is no vacuum to assist the brake pedal....the
engine has not run for a long time.  The brakes must be locked, so that the car does
not roll when you turn the crank bolt in the direction that the engine turns when it
is running.  Your helper must stomp on the brake with all his strength, which can be
hard on the brake pedal and master cylinder.

The other way with a manual car when by yourself is to roll its front bumper against
a solid object, such as a tree, fence post, or garage door jamb.  Nothing is going
to get hurt, because movement is so small when you are torquing the bolt, but
something has to hold the car still while you turn it and the engine with the torque
wrench.  I've done this at least twice and it works fine.  The driveway or wherever
you are doing the work must be level, otherwise pushing the car into position is
very hard.  Protect the bumper with a board wrapped with a piece of carpeting
inserted between the bumper and the solid object.  Crank the car forward, using a
ratchet torque wrench on the damper bolt, with the transmission in a middle
gear.....2rd or 3rd (again...these are the best to lock the engine most securely),
until it is pushing against the object, and torque away.  If you have a pointer type
torque wrench, use a ratchet until you get the car in position, then switch
wrenches.   

If you have an ATX, you must block the engine's rotation with either a c clamp on
the damper, which will bend it, or take the starter out and use a 2x4 or other piece
of wood to jam the flywheel.   You might consider putting a short 1x2 board between
the inbound side (up-belt side, if that is a word) of the damper and the belt.  This
MIGHT work, except that the spring loaded tensioner might retract a bit and let the
board go around.  On an MTX car, this would work, since the tensioner is bolted
down, but the belt might break....I haven't tried this yet.

As important as tightening this bolt is, it is amazing that there is no way to lock
the engine in an ATX car.  (...or easily in an MTX car.)

.......................

The instructions in the other posts answering your questions are correct for setting
the timing belt tension.  Make sure you do not loosen anything after turning the
engine the two revs.  Tighten the tensioner nut through the small window, and seal
it up.

George