Did the water pump and t-stat also. I was very conservative and slow because it was my first time. It's not that bad just be methodical, and the left cams WILL jump out of your hand on the valve spring tension.

 

Only problem was after car was back together. Short test drive and it got real hot. Back in the driveway I found the lower radiator hose collapsed flat. Pulled the rad cap and the hose expanded. I thought I was careful about air bubbles but who knows. Second test drive and all ok!

 

Thanks to Haynes manuals, all the good advice found here, and to my dad who provided the beers.

 

Ryan 97 OBW DOHC

Congrats, you were more successful then my first attempt, i was stranded in Montana, 3 days for parts, and for figuring out that TDC was not where the flywheel needed to be aligned, finally got it running and it over heated, so at that point i let a mechanic fix it for me, 300 bucks later and i was on my way, made it into Seattle around 4 am the next morning.

 

Definately deserves a beer, or 2.

I'm about to do my first timing belt and am wondering about the severity of the tension on the left side camshaft sprockets. I got a response in another thread that said putting cylinder 1 at TDC on its compression stroke will align things so that the camshaft sprockets will stay put. Did you do this and they still wanted to rotate due to valve spring tension?

 

Andrew

 

Did the water pump and t-stat also. I was very conservative and slow because it was my first time. It's not that bad just be methodical, and the left cams WILL jump out of your hand on the valve spring tension.

 

Only problem was after car was back together. Short test drive and it got real hot. Back in the driveway I found the lower radiator hose collapsed flat. Pulled the rad cap and the hose expanded. I thought I was careful about air bubbles but who knows. Second test drive and all ok!

 

Thanks to Haynes manuals, all the good advice found here, and to my dad who provided the beers.

 

Ryan 97 OBW DOHC

Hi Sid,

 

I honestly don't know if #1 was at TDC or not. I just turned the engine until all the marks lined up according to the Haynes book. The left sprockets will stay put but if you twist them a little either way (over center?) they spin about a half turn. I simply lined them back up by hand and threw the belt on. An extra set of hands is adviseable.

 

Ryan

Your first Timing belt and it was on a DOHC EJ25. . . My hat's off to you my man, those things are a real PIA. . . the SOHC models are much easier, as you have only one camshaft that is under pressure due to spring tension. Not two that have to be lined up with each other. .