You either need a tb tensioner tool... or you can buy the porkskinner which is an upgraded tentioner with auto adjust. Waterpump should come with gasket. Can't think of anything else other than the tb itself. Not sure why you need to replace alternator since they are very easy to get out anytime.

The tensioner does have some replacable parts. Call 928 International or 928 Specialist or the guys here at Pelican to get steered in the right direction. Personally I left my tensioner and am ordering a porkskinner soon.

if you want to get modern, and not have to readjust or worry about the timing belt and it's proper tension, then the Porkentensioner is the way to go.

It's sold exclusively thru ************---Roger Tyson.

you need a minimum of:

the correct Porkentensioner bracket (air pump style, or non air pump style)

Audi tensioner 078 109 497E
Audi lever 078 109 487A
Audi pulley 078 109 243R
(best price for the Audi stuff is from partsman912 at aol.com)

tensioner bracket gasket

timing belt
___________

while you're in there, replace the water pump. if you do not have HTD style gears/timing belt, you may want to upgrade to HTD. this is a significant cost/upgrade. you will want to check pricing for this.....

--Russ

You may want to inspect yours (tensioner) first before buying one. Maybe post up some pics of yours and let the community tell you then to replace or keep. FYI, I didn't rebuild or replace mine and my TB hasn't snapped off yet.

Also, I didn't put my TB Covers back on so it's easy for me to replace or rebuild in the future.

so... are those timing blet covers not needed on there if you make sure nothing will get in there? cuz they really are a pain to deal with...

ok, so i need to buy:

the 4 belts
timing belt
belt tension meter tool
water pump

or if the tensioner needs replaced then i need:

all 4 belts
timing belt
porkentensioner and bracket
water pump

right?

Yup, yup and yup.

ok, i ordered all the belts and the water pump. ill take pics of the tensioner. should i remove the tensioner so you guys can see it better? if yes, how should i do that? is there good instructions in the factory manual?

Pretty obvious once you get in there. Three 13mm bolts and the whole braket comes off.

OMG, this has to be the longest thread in history. I was out of town when it was started, so I just now got a chance to read it, the whole thing, all at once.:eek:
I think I now need to go buy a pair of glasses because my eyes are damaged.

Seriously, though, I have learned a lot from this thread, and I am totally interested because I will be doing a TB, WP, etc. change in the near future too; after I get my electrical problems sorted out. Paintballer, I commend your persistence. Many would have given up and just "taken it to the shop" a long time ago. This thread also shows the dedication of the people on this forum to hang in there and keep walking you through all the confusion and headaches.

yes it has, thank you guys so much for sticking with me so far and helping me with all the little problems.

i get my new belts thursday and the water pump sometime this week and ill remove the tensioner tonight and flip the harmonic balancer tomorrow. hopefully she will live again this weekend :D

relax----

it could have been 5 pages on "what color to paint my......"


--Russ

ok guys, these next couple days are the BIG COUPLE DAYS if you know what i mean. the past 2 day, i recieved all my parts in the mail. i got the brand new water pump and all 5 belts. all i need to do is just do the work. but i have a couple more questions, please pardon my newbness, i just dont want to screw anything up.

1. i was planning on taking the tensioner off to show you all, it looks good to me, but i had trouble figuring out how to remove it. do you have to remove the harmonic balancer to get it off?

2. to remove the harmonic balancer, i have to block the flywhell with preferably the tool but its possible with a screwdriver or something similar, howdo you access the flywheel. i know on a older chevy truck i had i just looked right beside the starter and found it but on here is there some sort of panel that needs removed or did i just not look in the right place?

3. when i remove everything and get the new wp put on and im putting the new tb on, what is the proper prcedure for that? do the marks need to be all lined up dead on or is there something about a 45 degree mark or something? and is there a timing mark for the 4th timing gear to the drivers side of the balancer? or does that just spin something that doesnt need time?

4. last question, when im lining up the timing marks, my balancer was 180 degrees off from the cams, do i need to worry about positioning everything correctly to line up the marks or just turn the engine to line it up, then turn the cams? i heard something about how if you turn them seperatly, you can bend the valves, i dont want that to happen.

thank you all so much for your help again, if i ever meet you guys in real life im gonna buy you guys a drink. ;)

Yes, and you have to pull the balancer to remove the old belt. (plus you need to get yours turned the right way)

The starter is very easy to remove since it is underneath the engine instead of on the side. There are 4 13mm bolts that hold the triangle shaped starter housing, they go in from the bottom. You will see what I mean. Then of course you have to remove the starter electric wires. Make sure you disco the Battery. I always use a screwdriver (a big one) or a medium crowbar to hold flywheels. I may catch flak for that but I've never owned a flywheel lock of any kind. Make sure you have a long pipe that fits over the rachet or breaker bar that you use. It really takes a surprising amount of effort to remove this bolt when propperly tourqed.

Just pull all the bolts, scrape all the old gasket matterial off the block. Use some gasket sealer on the gasket. ; Because of your situation I wouldn't recomend trying to do a 45 degree setup. You need to "know" that your timing is on. http://members.rennlist.com/sharkskin/Pages_SA_R27-TB-WP.htm This is the best link I've seen for Doing this job.

Early years are non interference if I'm not mistaken. On my 82 I am able to turn the cams and crank seperately. What you need to focus on during reassembly is making sure when you reinstall the balancer that you verify the #1 piston is at the top of it's stroke (not the bottom) when the marks are visable from the top. Set your cams on tdc and route the belt like you see in this link. Turn the crank slowly. Those valves are strong. You aren't going to bend them by hand unless you are trying to. If it hits then you are interference. Don't think you are.

Have fun and bear in mind that you may still have a problem and that the real reason you are changing this belt is because you can't troubleshoot without the motor assembled correctly. With the timing marks correct we can get back to the origonal problem, cause I don't think it was valve timing.

k, i got the balancer off just fine, for some reason it wasnt hard to remove the bolt, i think the po was a dumb@$$ and didnt do anything right. i put my new waterpump on too. the #1 is at TDC so ill install the balncer correctly. ill route the belt and hopefully get it started tomorrow. i need to get coolant though cuz i dumped it all out and it was nasty dirty. if i get it started up ill time it again with the light and if it still has the proble, ill double check my vaccume lines again.

i didnt have to remove the starter, there was a small plate with 2 13mm bolts that opened up a small section of the flywheel, i removed that and it allowed my friend to hold it with a screw driver and it was pretty easy.

i have a question about the tensioner, there was a little piston pushing on the tensioner roller bar? like a master cylinder? the little piston thing fell off, it was just sitting in there, was that right? is the tensioner hydrolic? ill take pics tomorrow

Yup, little piston is held by a rubber seal which is always hard and cracked. Is one present on yours? Honestly, I didn't rebuild mine, I just replaced that rubber seal and clamp and cleaned it up. I didn't see any visible leaks so I went with it. Works fine up till now.

Yeah, glad your gonna get it right as that crank bolt should be a byatch to remove if the torque was correct. When you do put it back on, make sure you put that washer on the correct way as it wont tighten down correctly if you don't (ask me how I know).

Surprising you didn't break any WP bolts, but I bet that was also changed out by the PO. I used RTV to make sure mine sealed if there was any imperfections in the surfaces.

Your almost there bro! Be patient and don't get ahead of yourself as you don't want to do this twice. :cool:

ok, so ill take pics of my tensioner here real quick, i need to get a gasket for to put it back on. the boot looks good, its just not on right.

Yes, that's the proper name. When I said Rubber Seal, I meant Rubber Boot.

ok, so i didnt take pics because it looked good to me. i put it back on the car.

so now im getting ready to but the timing belt back on.

i think im a little confused on how the tensioner works. is it hooked up to the collant line? because i saw little holes in the back of it and it had a gasket on it. and do you use the screw sticking out of the bottom to tighten the belt?

Yup, that's how you give it tension. There is also another nut on there to lock it down once you got the tension correct.

alright sweet. so i put the #1 to tdc then tuned the cams to the timing marks, they kind of pop over, im assuming because of the springs on the valves, then routed the timing belt, i had to hold the passenger side cam whil putting the belt on because the springs wanted to turn the cam. then i tightened the belt with the tensioner, put the balancer on and tightened the bolt (not to tourque, just to turn the engine) spun it around once and back to the O/T mark, checked the cams again and they are good :) i like it when things start to work. im waiting for a buddy to come over to hold the flywheel so i can tourque it down.

al i need now is to put the other belts on, put the radiator hoses and such back on, fill the coolant, and try to start her up again. ill try to take some more pics like i said i would like 5 times, and show you my timing marks and stuff.

thanks alot guys, im afraid without your help i probably would have gave up at the vacuum line incident haha

Awesome! Now what tool are you going to use to get your tension correct? It's not the same as pushing down on the Fan Belt and saying "I am good to go." TB Tension "MUST" be correct and within specs. Let me see if I can show you how to tension using a Kempf Tool.