Changing the timing belt/water pump

[VXorado]

Jon,

I haven't done the timing belt switch yet, but it is on my list of things to do for sure. I've read through Bart's How-to and it looks like you could use an extra set of hands during a few key steps. I will happily volunteer my hands if you can/ want to wait until Friday afternoon/evening or Saturday sometime to do the belt swap. It'll also give me an opportunity for a "dry run" before I have to do mine.

Let me know and I'll head on over....

Mark, that would be awesome- I'll supply the Beer, you supply the help . Tomorrow will work great, i'll hold off on doing anything tonight. Give me a call or PM and i'll get you directions. I work until 4

x2 on all that. IMO, it's better to be safe than sorry. I'd ring Merlin and get an OEM belt shipped asap. I bet he can do overnight for you if you want to spend the money. My VX was down for 4 days when I did mine. Of course, I was taking my time and documenting everything, which added to the downtime, but this is just one of those things you don't want to eff up.

That said, I suppose you could count teeth and match the lines. Your call.

Bart

Bart, stellar write up! I spent three hrs on it last night and got all the way to the timing belt. Without the writeup, i would have taken it to a shop for sure. I owe you a six pack

About the timing belt... i'm leaning that direction too on scapping this timing belt and leaving the VX o/s for the weekend. Mark and I will take a look into it more tomorrow.

[psychos2]

It is very simple, you can mark the belt yourself. First on the old belt line up the crank mark like it says in the manual. Find the marks on the camshaft pulley, make a mark on each pulley and on the belt in the same spot.a white paint marker or white out works well. Also mark the crank mark with an X so you know which mark is the crank mark and put an arrow in the correct direction on the old belt . Remove the old belt. Count the teeth between each mark and transfer that to the new belt. Make sure you double or triple check your tooth count and be sure that the belt has the same number of teeth. Reinstall the belt making sure that your marks are lined up with the marks you made on the pulleys And the direction is the same (the clips they tell you to use in the manual work great) and release the tensioner. Make sure that the marks are lined up and you are done. As long as you correctly count and mark the teeth on the belt you will be ok. One final note DO NOT TURN THE PULLEYS you can move them a little if you have to,to make the marks line up on the belt and pulley but do not turn them any farther. I used a carquest belt and the marks were not correct, but I had marked the old belt before removing and marked the new belt and installed it with no problems. This method is the easiest way to do it. And I would not install any belt ,factory or otherwise without counting the teeth and double checking the marks. shawn

[nfpgasmask]

Bart, stellar write up! I spent three hrs on it last night and got all the way to the timing belt. Without the writeup, i would have taken it to a shop for sure. I owe you a six pack

Thanks, glad people are putting it to use!!!


Bart