Cam Belt Change Shortcut/quick Cheat

[EliseViv]

Hi Peeps,

Ive changed alot of Cambelts in my time, but while Ive had my R32 for over 10 years Id never changed the belt as its done less than 20,000km in that 10 years!. Obviously It needed to be done (I was thinking it would be as hard a nails...) and I didnt want it failing on a trip to Townsville, so I looked up a few "how to guides" in the forums to see if theer are any traps for the RB, and used this StageA guide.

http://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/73824-adj-camshaft-pulley-new-cam-belt/

which alerted me to the relevant timing marks.

What I noticed in all the guides I found on SAU is that they all remove the old belt completely before putting the new one on, which makes it alot harder than it need be, and introduces another potential timing mistake.

The trick is to cut the old belt in Half along its length.

First prise the old belt half off, and slice it along nits length. Once you start it it will tear along the "nylon belts" that give it strength.

Then Push it right ot the back of the cam pulleys

Put the new belt on next to it.

Then cut the remainder of the old belt and remove it.

And push the new belt into position

I didnt change my waterpump, but its normally easy enough to do that "behind the half belt" when you are at the beginning of the process.

Finally I changed the Idler/tensioner by cable tying the middle of the belt together so it didnt jump teeth while I undid and replaced the old ones.

Hope this little trick is useful for someone.

Cheers

Brett

[2fardown]

Not bad if you only plan on doing half a job. What about crank and cam seals??

[EliseViv]

Thanks to the OH&S rep for pointing me out as "half a job" Harry,

He also forgot to mention I didnt document the date and time of the last change, I didnt change the water pump (something I may actually regret!) and I was running a risk of a broken belt for being negligent for a long period,

So for the 2 or 3 readers who are not perfect I apologise. Seals that harden do leak, and when it happens fix them immediately, else the oil leak will "f" up the belt quickly and have the nasty consequence of dropping oil on your mate's driveways.

I agree if I had a 11.79 second car that gets a proper throttle application on occassion the seals will suffer and need to be fixed on every belt. But for the rest of us with 130HP driven at about 30 HP most of the time the seals do not need replacing very often.

But i cede to to your experience as I do not have such an awesome drag machine in my garage.

[jiffo]

An interesting approach, one that I would never have thought of, congrats to you for thinking outside the square.

I don't touch the seals unless they show signs of weeping.

Have seen too many replacement seals weep due to difficulty linishing old wear marks from the sealing surface whilst in-situ.

Saw the zip tie method used during el-cheapo cylinder head removal. My luck would have something drop down there and ruin the show.

[2fardown]

Relax mate. It's a good idea, just pointing out that if you're performing a major 100km service, then do everything.

The previous owner of the car I just bought took shortcuts, and now I'm having to redo everything. Though if you've done all that, then what you've posted is a great tip.

[Ben C34]

Well, pulling off the balancer on an rb26 is a pain, and the torque requires to do them up is huge. It's not something that I would want to do more than required.

It's a nifty idea nevertheless.

[Ben C34]

Let us know when your water pump dies and can seals leak please.

[EliseViv]

:-) My response was a little "sharper" than intended,so a heart felt beer will be offered at first opportunity.

And yes.. I will be kinda cranky if they leak now.... ;-), but in the interests of full disclosure Ill let you all know!

[tridentt150v]

"the nasty consequence of dropping oil on your mate's driveways."

Just putting it back in the ground where it came from is all.......no big deal!!!

[jmknights93]

Can't say I've seen this before. Nice.