Hi, I have just done the Cam- belt balance shaft belt and the tensioners and idlers, and water/pump. I'm absolutley Knackered. What a lot of work to replace all these bits, half the time on your back and the other half stood over the wing.
This was all done over yesterday and this morning, on my 1994 RVR twin cam 4g63. I'm now 60, and found it very strenuous on my old body, I would think this will be my last major job on these more ( by my take on cars) modern cars, I'll stick with fixing up my 69 Fiat 850 coupe and my Lancia Gamma from now on.Theres a hell of a lot more room to work on these oldies than the RVR.
Anyway if your young in the body and have a good selection of tools and know your way around cars, hopefully like me you will get lots of satisfaction from doing the job well. After it was all back together, turned the key and she started up first turn. I just googled 4g63 cam belt replacement, to get a couple of helpfull sites.


Cheers Gerry

Congrats Gerry!

The ironic part of this being your last "timing belt job" is that it gets considerably easier, every time you do it. You find more comfortable angles to get at things, so your body does not get much of a beating.

But let me ask this, how did you set the tension on the belt?

Hi grndsm, thanks for that.
I made a tension adjusting tool up out of 8mm threaded rod , and compressed the hyd' tensioner with it. when belts were on, I used a pair of circlip pliers to apply tension first, and then released the hyd' tensioner. Hope that sounds logical.
Cheers Gerry

The reason why I ask is because FSM calls out two methods of setting the tension:

1. The gap between the tensioner and the pulley bracket

And (NOT “or”)

2. Torque on the “off-center” pulley.

The problem with this designation is that they are interrelated (the more torque you apply to the off-center pulley, the smaller will be the gap). As far as I am concerned, the gap is the important feature and that how I have been setting this tension for 14+ years, without a single failed belt.

Basically, you need to ignore the torque and go by just the gap measurement (I usually use measuring calipers).

One of the ways to check the gap is to use a “grenade pin” that comes with the tensioner. If you can still insert the pin after cranking the engine 2-3 times, you are all set.

I can definitely relate to your experience and doing strenious mechanical work on modern cars with an old worn body. Even at 48 yrs old I find some jobs very difficult to do now. Probably my biggest headache is releasing the electrical plugs from my Toyota MR2. You have to push & pull tabs while dissconnecting the plug & socket with one hand & no tools while handing upside down. Once you get apart and can see how it works but doing all this blindfolded makes a simple job complicated.

Jim