need help changing timing belt

[twinbee]

I have a full set of fm tools including that bar for sale, but people only want free.

OZMDD I PM'd you but never got a response. I am right in the middle of deep doo doo and could use some help from someone with experience and also would probably use that bar. Can someone come out to plano tomorrow? Already got it taken apart. I am near PArker and Alma and I will give you beer and be your friend forever.

[goofygrin]

He's likely at the pro solo race today...

[OZMDD]

Sorry, been in MW all day. You might give Jerome DuPont a call. He is JDSM on here, and he is on the MME FB page.

[twinbee]

So I made it through the timing belt change and these are the things that were interesting:

I figure I could make a crankshaft bolt tool. Bad idea. We went through three of these tools (galvanized 18 ga steel, then two carbon steel from home depot's welding section) before we got something that stood up to the massive torque needed for the crankshaft bolt to go back on. (Car is an auto.. so putting it in gear isn't an option).

At one point, one of the crankshaft pulley bolts got sheared off by my attempts at a tood (the galvanized steel one). So getting that out of the hub boss was.. fun. Even better, it broke AFTER the crankshaft had been torqued to spec.

Then the power went out in Plano and it was out for half the day. The guy helping me needed to get home to feed the horses. So we got out the generator and soldiered on making tools with the angle grinder, mag light and sawzall. But there went the specs we had on the computer but hadn't printed out, all of the before pictures I had taken, etc. Not good.

So that part didn't mess us up too much. We had to use mag lights in my garage and it was a pain finding the right sockets. But one thing that did get us was I used the "engine head cover torque". Not sure what this is but this is NOT the torque for the valve cover gasket. I was just tired and wanted the job to be done at this point, and I snapped my front center valve cover bolt (#2 in the ordering) at about 20 ft lbs. Not my sharpest moment.

So now I have a car that runs, but I need to remove the plugs and valve cover again and then get the bolt out. Hopefully it isn't too far down in there.. Any pointers?

OH also I didn't torque down the banjo connector feeding oil to the variable valve timing and the first time i cranked the engine, got about a quart pumped onto my garage floor. So that was awesome.

Hopefully someone will learn from my mistakes.

Lessons learned

1) Always have friends / beer around
2) A dependable bicycle is how you get to autozone
3) Don't make your own tools. They will not work.
4) If it aint broke, don't fix it? Timing belt looked great at 80k, not a crack in sight even bending it under a magnifying glass
5) If you follow a checklist, make sure you add the things for your model (VVT Banjo)
6) Don't work when you're pissed off and tired b.c your power and air conditioning and internet is out.

Thank you guys for your tips and suggestions with this project and I apologize to the people who wanted to observe, but with as much of a fiasco this has been for me, I am kinda glad no one did.

[goofygrin]

Non interference motor. Changing the water pump because it's weeping? Go ahead and do the timing belt. (better yet, pay TDR or Ace or Rogue to do it). Just bored? Do something else.

[twinbee]

Non interference motor. Changing the water pump because it's weeping? Go ahead and do the timing belt. (better yet, pay TDR or Ace or Rogue to do it). Just bored? Do something else.

Thanks for pointing me to these guys. A good mechanic who knows your car is worth a lot. If I had to do this again I'd pay someone to do it. I have just had some mechanics worse than me, and that's really bad.