1987 944 cam tower gasket replacement and Belt change

[johric68]

Hello All,
I decided to fix the leaking cam tower gasket myself and in the process change out the belts. Got the car completely at TDC on all marks, changed the cam gasket and got the timing belt on. I started rotating the crank by hand (socket/ratchet) and ask the mark was almost at a full revolution it got really tight and did not want to move. I didn't force it and stopped.

I then noticed the back of the belt housing was behind the distributor and this was preventing it from being able to be moved in front like it should be. This didn't have any effect on the belt tightness but I had to untighten the cam tower and take my timing belt off again and retorque everything down again once I got that out.

My question, and sorry for the long story, is why would it be hard to turn the engine by hand at that point (180 degrees from TDC) I have all spark plugs out. Also what if my cam is now out of time with the crank can I take the belt off and rotate the cam with the old belt as a pulley to get it back to the mark.

[mazdaverx7]

If the cam and the crank are out of time, yes you can remove the belt and time it again. Ensure you are not 180 degrees off from top dead center and ensure that you lock the flywheel in place when doing a timing belt job. This will help in many ways.