Metadope

Yeah, I should've listened to the alarm bell that went off in my head when I read: I wondered, who painted your flywheel? Miles Fox and team painted theirs. I myself borrowed some enamel (bright pink) from my sister and dabbed some on the spot, just a few daze ago when I went through this (it does help to see the mark while rotating the crank by hand). But some previous owner must've put that splotch on there, to help with that old black magic a reinstalled distributor, timing light, firing order and... gotcha. Don't go there. Now you know. Two different sets of timing marks, fine and gross, and we are gross when we change the belts. Congrats, I can hear your engine firing from here...

Yes, you want the middle of the three lines on your flywheel for your camshaft alignments (that's your 2nd pic above-- the first pic is used if you ever do need to mess with your distributor). Mine is not (or was not) painted, just the three engraved lines.

If you're confident in your cam alignments, I'm not sure what would prevent a start. I drove my Loyale around the block with the timing wrong-- off by a tooth or two, it still started, but chugged along like Sylvester the cat dying from suffering suckatash. Are your timing belt covers still off? If so, rest assured that you can make an adjustment (if need be) to those timing belts even with your accessory belts back in place. As long as you can reach the tension pulley's bolt heads, you can fix off-by-a-tooth problem (if there is one) and/or check and adjust the tension (which is recommended for new belts after an indeterminate break-in period anyway, right?). So, you're now tasked with the elemental procedure-- spark? Spark at the coil? I'd go ahead and go over my checklist and put everything back together (you want that water pump to be belted asap), just leaving the timing belt covers off.

Yes, the video is accurate. As DaveT said, you needn't (and don't want) to mess with the distributor, just the cam pulleys. For me, using a 10mm socket wrench from beneath allowed me to rotate the cams using one of their three bolts (this is mentioned as a technique on one of the many timing-belt threads here, though I very much like the custom tool idea, if you have clearance). Since they are pushing pistons via their camshafts, there is a variable amount of resistance as you rock around the clock. The main goal is to get them aligned 180 degrees from each other, with one pointing directly at 12 and the other directly at 6, all while the flywheel stays with the pointer at the mark. Another gotcha I encountered was, while putting on the belt, my carefully positioned cam pulley gets pulled out of position. So I had to go through the rotation again, and did this twice before I positioned the mark to compensate a bit (should we call this retarded? or advanced?), and let the force of getting the belt on pull the pulley into perfect position. It is amazing how much difference being off a single-tooth can make in the engine's performance.

We're in Ohio right now, but usually in St. Pete. Too bad I hadn't done the AC delete before I came north, I could've dropped by. I used the AC a few times in the worst of Florida's heat, but when my timing belt broke, I had a hard time getting the covers off. I ended up pulling the condenser along with my radiator, just so I could go apesh** with my pry bar. The refrigerant escaped (apologies to my grandchildren), and I intended to recharge but never got the roundtoit parts that I needed. Here we are a year later, and with new work done and planned, I decided I didn't need it in my engine bay, in my way, and I'd never use it enough to justify working around it all the time. I say that now in the cool of spring... I was very careful pulling everything. The lines dripped a little yellow-green oil when I removed them. I'm confident it's still a viable system. I haven't yanked the box under the dash yet but everything that was attached to the compressor has been pulled, to the firewall. This was a factory AC-- I suppose I should cover the holes so it doesn't dry out while sitting in my garage here. I need a replacement bracket to secure my alternator (right now I'm getting my 14vdc, but feeling insecure), so I'm looking for a non-AC EA82 to swap with. I don't have a plan to drive down as yet, but I'll let you know if that changes.

Just how much trouble am I in for if I remove my mechanical/clutch fan (on my 1992 Loyale)? I've read threads here that seem to say it's ok, even desirable (from a standpoint of having more room to work). My Loyale is running now, but hasn't left the driveway yet, since I'm still working on it. I intend to re-install the electric fan, but I am currently fanless (both fans are out), and wonder if I could run a few miles (like to the auto parts store, six highway miles away) as she is, without blowing the head gasket or something worse. Isn't the fan there to cool while stationary? Does 55 mph air flow directly into my radiator keep me from needing a fan? As long as I don't get caught in summer traffic...?

Hi All, Finally registered after a year or so of lurking, here to say, thank y'all! I found my 1992 Loyale in Florida on Craig's List. It was a scary purchase, 205k miles and only firing on three cylinders when I bought it for $800. I was not previously mechanically inclined, but could buy a set of plugs and wires and ended up blessed and happy. Everything worked, including the AC, and I drove the Loyale across the country, with round-trips to NW Ohio and Dallas. I first came to this forum about a year ago when the Loyale suddenly died on the highway. Thanks to many here, I was able to diagnose and then fix the broken timing belt, with a $10 part and about two days of head-scratching labor. Since then, I've added about 17k to the odometer (up to 221k now), The timing belt broke again, and I figured out that a small piece of left-over timing-belt-cover was dangling in the belt path (I had to destroy mine to remove it). Yesterday I pulled all of the AC components and am now running with one belt, scared again because the alternator is only supported at two points. Maybe I should track down and buy the brackets I've seen mentioned here. In any case, if anyone needs a working AC compressor (or the other parts for the AC: condenser, tubing, sensor, etc), let me know-- Thanks again all (especially to Miles Fox, seeing is believing).