timing belt help!!

[beatdown944]

doing the timing belt on a 95 gsx, I followed the vfaq to the tee. the part I'm stuck on is number 36. the belt is on and feels tight. the spec for the tensioner arm and auto tensioner body is way off. the tensioner is in good condition. I did not use the special tool to tension the pulley. what is going on?

http://www.vfaq.com/mods/timingbelt-2G.html

[macder]

I also replaced my timing belt w/o the special tool, i basically used a steel rod instead. Keep in mind that this method requires lots of arm strenght. I also installed the timing belt w/ the hydraulic tensionel off, and after used mechanical thread (strong steel thread) on the tensioner to keep the piston down while installing. Then when the tensioner was in, I just cut the mechanical thread and everything went into spec. This is a very complicated procedure, I've done many timing belts, but have never come across a difficult one as the 4g63, besides the old audi inline 5's.

[kjewer1]

Originally Posted by beatdown944

doing the timing belt on a 95 gsx, I followed the vfaq to the tee. the part I'm stuck on is number 36. the belt is on and feels tight. the spec for the tensioner arm and auto tensioner body is way off. the tensioner is in good condition. I did not use the special tool to tension the pulley. what is going on?

http://www.vfaq.com/mods/timingbelt-2G.html

The easiest way I have found to do this is to hold the arm against the tensioner piston, and pry the tensioner pulley against the water pump. Hold some good tension on it, and tighten the 14mm bolt on the tensioner pulley. Wait 10 minutes and measure the gap. If its too small, you put too much pressure on the prybar. If its too big, you need to put more pressure. I can nail it on the first try these days. In fact I tighten the spec to .15 to .16, so that as the belt stretches in the first few hours of use it stays under the .18 mark.

You can use drill bits or allen wrenches. 5/32 is .15, 3/16th is .18. I tend to just use a set of calipers to measure the gap (the gap is how far the piston sticks out of the tensioner body, or the distance between the body and the arm, as shown in the vfaq pic). Also, if the grenade pin still fits in the holes, the gap is in spec. To avoid having to use a tensioner tool or recompress the tensioner in a vise, I leave the grenade pin IN until after the 10 minute wait it is loose in the hole. When its loose, the gap is always right.

I have gone into further detail in the past about this, trying to find those threads (search with my user name) may prove useful.

[beatdown944]

I did make a replacement for the md998738 thread in tool. I used a threaded rod and turned it with vice grips. the tool as to which I am referring is md998767, I tried prying the pulley against the water pump like suggested and got some good tension in the belt but the auto tensioner seems fully extended to its 12mm limit. Should I use the 998738 threaded tool to hold auto tensioner in a compressed position (to the spec listed) while I tighten the tensioner pulley? This seems to be the only solution.

[beatdown944]

I leave the grenade pin IN until after the 10 minute wait it is loose in the hole. When its loose, the gap is always right??

Wait, so I should not decompress the auto tensioner(pulling out the grenade pin) till after I tension and tighten the pulley(pry against waterpump and torque to 35lbs)?

That seems to be right. right?

[kjewer1]

You can use the tensioner tool, I just use my hand. If you want to free up hat hand, tighten the tool just enough so that the arm is held against the piston, with the grenade pin in. Then you are free to pry the pulley to tighten the belt, and tighten the pulley's bolt.

You do not pull the pin until the bolt is tightened, correct. Otherwise you have to fight the tensioner to get hte pin to go back down to the spec range of .15 to .18. If you rotate the motor a couple times, the marks still line up, wait ten minutes, and the pin is still loose, 99.99% of the time the gap will be correct. I would say 100% because I have never seen it not be right, but I'll end up eating those words someday I'm sure

So the whole point of doing the tbelt job is to get the marks all line up correctly and the piston sticking out the correct amount. Thats it. Whatever method you use, if this is the end result, you have done it right.

[beatdown944]

I got it. Awesome. Thank you for your help.

[91 Eclipse]

to do my timing belt i pulled the engine. screw doing it with it in it looks hard and i didnt want to try with it in.

[macder]

Originally Posted by 91 Eclipse

to do my timing belt i pulled the engine. screw doing it with it in it looks hard and i didnt want to try with it in.

That would be like 3 times or more work then necessary. I think it's way easier to put the car up on hoists, loosen the engine mounts while having a stand under motor, and then lowering hoists. The stand will make the motor raise up giving you plenty of space to work with. Pulling the entire motor is hours of extra unecessary work. Remember, with any job, if you work smart, you'll work less.

[beatdown944]

after much trial and error I finally got the piston gap to go to a little more than 3/16th I'm guessing .19mm. Is there a problem with this setting or should I aim for the .15? for some reason I can not get the vfaq to load leaving me with no specs.

[beatdown944]

anybody anybody? factory specs. is .19 good enough?

[gthompson97]

.19 is .01 larger than the largest spec. kevin said you should have it between .15 and .18 so i would shoot for somewhere in thre. i know .19 is only .01 more, but that .01 might be .01 too much and cause much unwanted and unneeded damage. the factory doesn't have specs for nothing, i would use them if you have access to them.

[kjewer1]

That .15-.18 is in inches, just to clarify. .19 is probably going to be ok, but remember that the belt will stretch after a few hours of use. I'm not sure if mitsu took that into consideration when they set that spec, or if they meant that is should be 15-18 at its operating length. Who knows. If you are struggling to get it in spec, I would call .19 good enough. In the end though it really comes down to how much is a "little more" than 3.16ths

On my car I also pull the motor to do the tbelt job. With a 1gina2g there is very little room to work if you have ABS. And my motor only takes about 15 minutes to remove once the tranny is out (~1 hour). At the end of last season, the last night I ran perhaps, I swapped oil pump covers with the motor in the car. I was regretting it the whole time But for more stock like cars, leaving the motor in certainly makes more sense...