My experience changing timing belt

I have a 1999 Escort SE, and as most of us know, you replace your timing belt after 100k miles. A guy I work with had an Escort years back, and he paid a shop close to $500 to replace the timing belt. No way was I going to pay that much, and after completing the job, I'm glad I decided to do it myself. It wasn't too bad. I used a Haynes manual to guide me a little, but in the end common sense will get you through it just as easy. Also, I should mention I put in a new water pump, because that's recommended, and I can see why. For $45, I might as well have a brand new one for an additional half hour worth of work. Some things I learned:

1 - Helicoils SUCK!!! I bought a new Cardone water pump, and it had a helicoil installed into the aluminum bracket to bolt on the timing belt tensioner. Well, with almost no effort, the tensioner bolt pushed the helicoil out. I will never buy another product made by Cardone again. The stock Motorcraft pump I pulled out also had a helicoil, but it worked. Cardone definitely needs a lesson in machining practices. There was no hint of loctite anywhere on the helicoil. So rather than call the company and chew them out or return the water pump for a new one I decided to put in a Keensert. The machine shop where I work has them, and they are fabulous compared to helicoils.

2 - You absolutely have to have some sort of small straight or right angle die grinder with a wire brush attachment to clean off the old gasket from the old water pump. I started out trying to scrape it off. Forget it. That stuff is baked on good.

3 - This makes for a good time to rotate your tires because removing the right front wheel does help a lot.

4 - This also makes for a good time to flush out your coolant because you'll end up draining it anyway when you take off the hoses on the water pump.

5 - While the Haynes manual says you only have to remove the motor mount for Escort made before 1997, I found it did free up the area quite a bit to remove mine anyway. It's not that hard to remove. Obviously support the engine with a block of wood under the oil pan.

If anyone has any questions or comments to add please feel free. I'd like to know how others' experiences went with changing the timing belt.

The main thing is to get each cog/pull lined up properly when You put the new belt on, or else your timing could be off. My belt was off 1 tooth, but I didn't figure it out for a few days. The motor ran pretty good, but kicked and bucked under load a bit. I removed it again, and realigned everything, and now it purrs.

I also had a helicoil fail on me. It was in the aluminum pan drain bolt. I wish I had known about Keenserts. I pulled coil out and put in a rubber drain plug. I'm going to pull it though and put in a Keensert. Where can they be bought? It sounds like the way to go on an aluminum part.

That's a good question. If you search "keensert" on google you'll find places that carry them. Some probably will sell to consumers. However, I'm looking right now and they aren't exactly cheap ($5 each). Lucky for me I have a machine shop at work that loves doing "home side jobs".

If you do still plan to get a keensert, don't bother buying their punch tool. All you gotta do is be careful with a small hammer, and the pins will pound right in. Just search around for the chart that tells you exactly what size drill to use first, because it's not the same drill you usually use for the outer threads of the keensert.

Thanks for the info Crash. I appreciate it. Dave