Timing belt change victory!

[makaio]

Well I finished the replacement of my timing belt and water pump today. All time said and done on those two items was probably 6-7 hours. Most of the time was spent cleaning and just figuring out how every thing came apart.

This job will definatley be easier the next time around.

A few things that I want to add in case some one does a search or the question of tips and tricks arises in the future:

1. Remove the hood! I farted around for too long trying to do things with the hood in place. The extra 20 minutes of removing and replacing the hood is well worth it.

2. Don't worry about setting the motor to Top Dead Center untill you get the covers and the pulleys off.

3. Here's a picture of the cam at TDC ( Top Dead Center ) and the marks lined up. I could not find a good picture of this when I was in the planning stages:



4. Here's a pic of the crank, with the pulley and harmonic balancer removed, at TDC. You can see the line on the nose of the crank, and the v-notch in the plate. Once again I could not find a picture of this before I began:



5. This job is easier than updating to Carrera chain tensioners on a 911. Well within the means of the cofident DIY'er. If you have an experienced friend that has done this before, you could easily do it it in 3 hours.

Lastly, Jared the article you wrote was very helpfull. I think you should add it to the tech articles.

[Jared at Pelican Parts]

Thanks very much... I've passed it on to the big boss....

It really isnt all that hard... Taking the hood off is a must...

I've done it in about an hour BTW

[wludavid]

Wow. The first time (and only, thus far) I did mine it took about 18 hours, start to finish. This was over three days mind you, with the last parts being thrown on in a hurry so I could go pick up my friend at the airport

Of course, this was my first experience working on a car besides simple things like oil changes. And I did not remove the hood either.

I was chatting with a guy awhile back who said it took him all winter to do this job. I didn't feel so bad about my 18-hour project then!

It's a very satisfying job for a DIYer. It's not the hardest thing to do, but it saves a lot of money over having a mechanic do it, and gives a pretty good tour of your engine compartment.

[phaques]

Matt -
Excellent! I'm very glad you snapped that pic of the crank and lower engine v-notch reference points - these, with the upper set of marks eliminate the need to partially reinstall the lower cam belt cover, which is a waste of time and a pia.

Jared - I hope you will include both these excellent photos in your tech article. They also help to illustrate how far off your marks would be if you did mis-align the belt, because the teeth on the belt are so fat.

Congrats again Matt.

[jase007]

Congrats! Nothing like a DIY job well done. Will be doing mine again soon.

Jase