Re: Timing Belts

From: Theo Kyriacou
email: theo@gamma.fslife.co.uk
Date: 14 Mar 2005
Time: 09:42 AM

Message

Never changed the belts before? But you've had your car for years! The crankshaft pulley does not need to come off. The rest of the details will depend on the version of engine you have. Yours should be one of the later ones with the extra idler wheel on the oil pump. According to the Gamma Workshop manual you need special tools to lock the camshaft wheels in place and special tools to set the tension on the belts. Presumably you have a copy of the workshop manual? If not, let me know and I'll send you a copy of the relevant pages. I found that the camwheel locking tools are not necessary and for the special tensioning tool I use my fingers! The 'proper' tensioning tools have large weights on them and the weights are used to set the belt to the correct tension. If you haven't changed cambelts on other cars either it might not be obvious to you how much tension to go for.