Hi,

Just about ready to install a new timing belt.

The 60k.htm page says "You now need to transfer the marks you made on the old timing belt to the new belt (the belt is directional). "

I'm installing a Contitech Conti synchrobelt. Searching the net I can't find where it says the belt is directional. No arrows on the belt. No arrows on old belt.

Or does he mean when I transfer the marks to the new belt to make sure the marks are all the same direction?

I could see where if you marked your belt and than flipped it the other direction it would really screw you.

I would greatly appreciate your advice.

bottom line is, mark your old belt and new belt. make them line up. then you also want to make sure that your cam gears dont move an inch, this can be done with a few things (a foam pad made to fit betweent them holding them or you can make 3 marks on the belt, and a mark on the high point of each gear that way the gears and belt stay 100% in line. i don't have directional marks on mine either, but just make 100% sure the gears and belt stay in sync when swapping. good luck.

your doing your water pump too right? its a good idea to if you aren't.

Yep, New pump, tensioner, tension pulley and idle pulley, plugs, wires, dust cover seals, bandages :-)

So far only one skinned knuckle. But I have cursed enough, the gates of hell have racketed open a few notches. At least the snow is melting away from the garage.

Skinned my knuckle when I took the belt off the front cams, was not expecting them to turn. Spring tension turned both about 1/8 turn. The rear cams did not move.

learn as we go. Next time I'm ordering the cam chock's to hold the cams in place. One less thing to worry about lining back up.

Just want to thank everyone in this group for the help. I found more info and help here than the week I spent searching the net for info. Ordered a repair cd but the info I found here is way better. Wish I would have found this group earlier.

Thanks

awesome to hear the help here is appreciated, most just take the advise, fix the car and never come back. i hope you stick around more then just to fix your car, you can visit the off topic lounge (my country) and shoo the $#!t or just browse and comment anything you want. again, good luck with it and hope to hear from your again.

-mike

DUDE! i just realised your a montanan, ME TOO!!!! what part?

I'm over in the Flathead Valley. I take it from your nick you are in Lewistown?

nope, last name is lewis. i looked at your myspace, columbia falls hu, the wild cats. wrestled quite a few people from there.

would you guys suggest doing the belt myself ( someone who does not do a thing about the vr4, other than it would take min 7 hours to do it) or just pay $500 for the job?
As far as mechanics goes the only thing i did mechanically was overhaul a 1.6L engine from a 1990 corolla sr5 (including belt swap).

I can walk you through it. If you want. If anyone ever needs help with the timing belt PM me I will send you my number and walk you guys through it.

Also Todders can and would most likely help not to mention just about anyone on 3si.org. I randomly pmed someone at 11pm one night when I needed help, four minutes later I had a response.

Thelights, is your car running?

sweeeeeeeet
do you think you will have a little time in about 1 month when my exams are done ?

Yes.

you never call me any more late at night :crying:

Hi, I received a private email asking about the timing belt change. I figured I would post it here and the replay. hope to save some one else some troubles with their belt change.

Allen





Hi,

Yes, it quite a job. I'm not a mechanic, so it probably will take me longer. I'm going to go with 20 hours for me, but like I said I'm a programmer. Half my time is double checking every thing before I took it apart.

All my parts didn't arrive at one time either and I'm still waiting on the dust cover seals so that always add a bunch of time when you go back to a project you stopped in the middle. To be save, I would say plan on 10 hours with all the parts in your hand.

Don’t **** around , order both new pulleys, tensioner, water pump, dust seals, power steering belt, air conditioner belt and what ever else you can think of. Way to much work to try and save a buck in this area.

You ask about what you need to take out. The 60K.htm is a very good article.
You will need to find all the torques. Would be nice if ALL the bolt torques setting were on the page too. It says to refer to manual - I don't have one but it is here.
http://www.mitsubishi-forums.com/t25567-workshop-manual.htm

http://www.team3s.com/60k.htm If someone knows of a better one.


Than read posts and read more posts, than search for more posts
Than search the net.

The guys here have been great and the info is great. Just hope I can add some useful info back to the group.

Things I would do different:

Order the cam chocks, the front cams will spin on you.

You will need these two tools.
Order the pulley remover tool and the tensioner tool. (I have access to a machine shop so I built my own ( 1 hour) The tolerance for the tension tool is about 5 thousands, unless you have some good equipment, just buy it.

(IMG:http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh29/TheLightsAreOnBut/wrench.jpg)

(IMG:http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh29/TheLightsAreOnBut/tension_wrench.jpg)

in addition to the paper clips to hold the new belt in place. I had eight woodworking spring clamps. (Looks almost like the paper clips shown but they had a 2" deep throat.) With these you can hold the 2 belts on top of each other (edge to edge) Makes it very easy to transfer your timing marks.

Like the 60K.htm states- mark your belt- Make sure you mark the belt all the way across the top for you timing marks - than also paint a mark on the cam shafts so you can see them from this side. The rear cams are hard to see the mark. You still have to use the embossed marks to align your cams. If you use the cam chocks than you know for sure every thing is lined up.

I also marked the crank shaft. (thin lined paint pen) than I marked the triangle pickup sensor to make sure the crank never turned and to line up the belt marks. I just picked a tooth, marked it with a paint pen. I drew a line across the belt. all the way to the block and marked the block.

Like it says – double and triple check everything. Hand turn over the motor and turn it back. Make sure the marks are right. I have a 5 speed so turning the crank is easy. Put the car in 5th gears, put some old lug nuts on the wheel studs and use a ½ breaker bar to turn the hub.

With marks all the way across the old belt, lay this belt on the floor. lay the new belt on top of it (edge to edge) line up the belt nubs and clamp the two belts in place with the 8 wood working clamps. This makes it impossible to get your transfer marks wrong.
Than double check everything.

The 60K.htm says to keep all you bolts in order. I figured if I put the bolts for each part in it own zip lock bag I would remember where and how they installed. After all, how long will this take…… What is the word “WTF” not all bolts are the same length, diameter or head pattern. Next time I’m going to get a sheet of chip board (about 10 bucks) as I remove bolts draw a rough out line of the part, drill a hole and use the chip board as my bolt holder.

Setting tension for the timing belt is tricky, when you tighten the pulley nut it wants to turn the cam, which over tensions the belt and binds the pin in the hyd tensioner. I only set tension to 5 ft/lbs and as I tightened the bolt the cam turned. I had to torque the bolt to 44 ft/ lbs instead of 42 ft/lbs to get the belt the correct tension. I used the retaining pin in the tensioner as my guild. Hand turn the motor back and forth before you remove the pin. Recheck that the pin moves easy. I waited a few hours and rechecked the pin. Turned the motor back and forth, recheck and than I pulled the pin.

I also would change the plugs at the same time. The rear cam dust cover is a **** to get the bolts out but if you take the intake plenum off to change the plugs, it would be easy to get at.

I’m learning as I go. I have the belt installed; waiting on the dust cover seals, so my motor is still supported by a floor jack. This will be a several weekend project for me.

I was probably way over cautious, but this is not the place to make a mistake with your cams.

I’m going to change plugs today. I was going to wait until I have the timing all back together but waiting on parts. This breaks my golden rule about taking several things apart at once. I would have liked to start the car after the belt change and before taking off the intake plenum. So if *** went or goes wrong you only worked on one thing at a time. But what’s the fun in that  :beer:

Lewiman06 where are you from?
Must be close if you wrested here.