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SVT Timing Belt Change...The Stuff You Never Seem to Hear About!

21K views 44 replies 17 participants last post by  Timken500 
#1 ·
After spending big chunks of three days on my first SVTF timing belt (have a real life, so had to do it as time allowed; plus, I'm slow), I thought a couple of 'rookie' observations might be helpful to the other timing belt virgins out there:

1. It's not as easy as everyone likes to tell you. Yes, it's doable, but you're not going enjoy much of it.
2. You probably want to do it 'by the book' the first time. That way, if you do screw something up, it's easier to 'retrace' your steps and figure it out.
3. When you jack up the engine to release pressure off the passenger side engine mount, be sure you get it up enough. I'm not certain how you determine that exactly, but I got a pretty good 'sproing' out of my mount when it let lose because I was probably an inch too low.
4. Expect to raise and lower the engine a couple of times as you work your away around bolts and pieces that either need to come out above or below the inner fender areas.
5. When you loosen the cam gears, be prepared to find a strange combination of star (torqs) bolts to deal with on the end of each one.
6. You have to hold the cam in place with the correct open end wrench or large vice grips to get those bolts out. It requires about 85 ft.lbs. of force to do this. That's A LOT with your left hand while you're trying to hold the damn thing in place with your right hand!!! (You will see the cam 'hold' area between the first and second cam lobes.) Do yourself a favor, get a buddy to hold the cam in place for you while you use both hands, and your back, to break the bolts free.
7. When it's time to tighten those bolts back to spec, I suggest the same thing...a buddy to hold the wrench or vice grips on the cam with both hands while you snug the cam bolts down.
8. In spite of what the manual says, I would REMOVE the timing bar from the end of the cams while you tighten the cam gear bolts. This is where the cam ends get chipped off, which is what happened to mine. It is IMPOSSIBLE to hold those cams in place with one hand while you tighten with the other.
The cam WILL move slightly enough to break a chunk off the end of the cam. If your 'assistant' is holding that cam in place with both hands while you tighten it, it will not move enough to make a difference. Once both are tightened, you will remove the crank pin and manually rotate the crank
several times to ensure good belt alignment. Once #1 is back at TDC (screwdriver at top of stroke and/or crank key at 12 o'clock position), the timing bar should slip back into the back of your (still) unbroken cams. If not, you did something wrong; repeat the belt install steps.
9. Do not try to install the serpentine belt by yourself. It's a total waste of time and knuckles. After a wasted half hour of trying, my son showed up to provide an assist. While I was under the car pushing up on the tensioner (with the belt ON the tensioner), he 'rolled' the belt over the PS pulley.
It took less than 5 mintues total with that approach!
10. Get the easy stuff done right: After all of that, one coil pack did not seat fully and I thought my dead miss vibration was a total screw up of the timing belt job!

Good luck....first timers, don't expect to do this in 3-4 hours by yourself.
 
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