gotime242 Posted July 4, 2005 Share Posted July 4, 2005 Hello all, i just changed my timming belts yesterday, and i wanted to share something i did, and see if anyone else has done anything like that. Other timming belt jobs ive done on DOCH i4's were kind of tedious with having to line everything up, with super tight tensioners, grenade pins and so fourth.... So with my ea82T i did something i thought was simple, and kind of obvious. All i did was take a metalic silver sharpie, and mark the old timming belts and cam and crank pullies/gears. For example i would draw a line on a gear tooth, then a matching line on the belt space that the tooth goes it. I then took the belts off, and carefully (carefully) lined matched up tooth by tooth the old timing belt with the new one, and drew replica lines. I checked my work like 10 times, took the belt back over to the engine and just matched up the new belt with new lines and the sharpie lines on the gears and installed the tensioners and whatnot making sure the lines/teeth stayed in their spot. All said and done i checked to make sure it all matched up. (Three marks on top of flywheel pointing straight up as the cam gear holes/top-points were pointing straight up as well. Rotaded the crank a few times, to make sure they stayed that way. So anyway, thats what i did. Overall it took like 15-20 min, and was 10 times less stressfull than other engines ive done trying to keep everything matched up/pointing up and trying to install the belt like that. What do you guys think? Just a diff tecnique i thought i would share. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PoorManzImpreza Posted July 4, 2005 Share Posted July 4, 2005 ea82 timing belts require tensioning to be correctly installed.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chef_tim Posted July 4, 2005 Share Posted July 4, 2005 I think he was saying that he marked them with tension, that way when retentioned they would be correct. A great idea!!!! Thanks for the tip, Tim ea82 timing belts require tensioning to be correctly installed.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baccaruda Posted July 4, 2005 Share Posted July 4, 2005 aside from the need to tension the belts, that works fine. in fact, I've used that very trick before when I changed the timing belt on a friend's '84 Honda. I called a few places to ask if I'd need to tension the belt, or if it had an auto tensioner. One guy (a Honda "Specialist") started to give me a bunch of crap when I asked, and I told him that I was familar with Subaru engines and their timing belts but not with Hondas. He started talking about lining everything up and such, and I told him that I was just going to mark and count the teeth on the belt (counted them 3 times as it turned out, can't be too careful with someone else's car!) and he started saying something about not knowing what I was doing before I hung up on him. The next shop I called was very helpful and told me that the tensioner was automatic on that car, and just asked if I knew not to rotate the cam or crank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gotime242 Posted July 4, 2005 Author Share Posted July 4, 2005 Oh yes, i did not touch a thing when i made the marks other than take off the belt covers. The marks were made with the belt having full/normal tension on them. After i made the marks, i then removed the tensioners/belts...marked the new belts, and installed the new ones with marks on them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NorthWet Posted July 5, 2005 Share Posted July 5, 2005 The tension is needed only if you are starting from zero information (i.e. staring at a bare set of pullies and a belt in your hand). Since the "granularity" (how much difference there is between one possible setting and the next) of the setting/alignment is one tooth, if you have the right number of belt teeth between the marks on the pulleys, it should work. This method is actually more direct, as the "normal" procedure utilizes the indirect markings on case and flywheel to transfer the alignment to the sprockets. If done properly, this method should be foolproof, which is more than I can say for using flywheel marks and cover markings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
azsubaru Posted July 5, 2005 Share Posted July 5, 2005 I've done it this way, too, and it worked fine. The other way seemed much more involved than nessary (laziness inspires creativity). What's the worst that can happen? -You accidentally move something or wipe off a mark, and then you can revert to the detailed instructions. I use white out and flick it off the belt when finished. I check the work by turning the crank after installing the belts to make sure things line up. So far no problems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Indrid cold Posted July 5, 2005 Share Posted July 5, 2005 excellent idea... I saw that for the first time this weekend... 15 minutes and they were changed! Couldn't understand what all the fuss was about... but I have never broken a belt and try to figure out which way is up.. LOL... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WJM Posted July 5, 2005 Share Posted July 5, 2005 One dot up...one dot down...center of the 3....done in 5 mins flat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gotime242 Posted July 6, 2005 Author Share Posted July 6, 2005 One dot up...one dot down...center of the 3....done in 5 mins flat. Wait...WHAT!?!?! After what i did i had each cam gear's dot pointing up. Along with the 3 lines... So that would be two dots up (one per head/cam gear) !?!? ??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NorthWet Posted July 6, 2005 Share Posted July 6, 2005 Yeah, WJM was probably talking about both cams. I was doing an oilpump reseal on a new-to-me XT today, and noticed that all of the timing marks were recently dabbed with paint... ... and both belts were off a tooth. So much for it being simple. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gotime242 Posted July 6, 2005 Author Share Posted July 6, 2005 ... and both belts were off a tooth. So much for it being simple. lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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