joelk

Yeah, I met him at our local MN club weekend get-togethers and talked to him a few times. Really cool guy, I never realized he was such a celebrity on here.

I found an interesting wagon to park next to the other day. (mine's the silver, non-interesting wagon on the right. )

I had to take the driver's side cam gear off. I just broke the bolt loose when the old timing belt was still on and torqued it after I put the new belt on. I was holding on the crank pulley with my homemade tool. It went ok with that, didn't seem to put too much stress on anything. Although, having the right tool is certainly the better way to go. I think you could also make a nice custom strap wrench using an old timing belt, that should hold a lot stronger than a smooth strap wrench. Otherwise, yeah, doing the timing belt is not that bad. I think the only thing I found on the second car I did it was that putting the oil pump back on while the water pump was still off was a bit easier, a little more room to work.

I didn't have any trouble with the driver side cam turning on it's own with the belt off. Be careful when you are putting the belt back on and trying to get everything lined up, it won't take too much of a nudge to send it over the lobe. I just used a breaker bar and socket on the cam gear bolt, the weight of the breaker bar and a little caution was enough to keep it from turning. Joel