Hopefully the last timing chain thread from me!!

[Gregorius]

So .... I dug deep into the wallet and somehow managed to spend £320 on the timing and balance chain kits as well as the serpentine belt which hopefully will flop onto my doormat on Saturday...

What I need now is practical, hands-on advice from someone who's done it before about where I ought to start..!! I'm not a complete numpty with a spanner, but a a bit of help now will probably stop a lot of head scratching later (and grease play havoc with my haiR!!)

Over to you then... any pitfalls problems I'm likely to encounter... what should be done first etc?? I'm all ears ..

Thanks in advance..

Greg

[dicreamio]

Sounds like you have a weekend of fun ahead mate,
Im sure some of the more expeirenced guys can help.

I have the serpentine belt job to do this weekend.
Maybe some serious head scratching but unfortunatley my hair wont be affected by grease as years of strain have taken its toll .

Good Luck!

[dave225]

I've never done a chain job on this engine, but the Haynes manual seems to give pretty good instructions, and even mentions the care you need to take with the head gasket when re-fitting the front cover, if you don't lift the head first.

You have to work through RHS wheelarch, removing the plastic wheelarch liners to expose the engine. I'd be tempted to remove the strut too.

[Harvey]

I haven't done it either but have heard that the crankshaft pulley nut can be a [expletive deleted] to undo. Do you have a compressor and a rattle gun?

And some ( all?) of the crankshaft pulleys have a rubber? damper 'sandwhich' in them and now is the time to check that it is in good condition; *before* you start. Method is painting a line accross it and then see if it moves over a period of time, I think. ( this is all from memory and only what I have heard, so don't take it as gospel ).

Serpentine belt: if it is auto. adjuster type, you need to make a simple tool to hold it in the relesed position. Details are in the 'Haynes'. I think you need to get one if you don't already have.

Harvey

[johncc]

Quasimotor site has a good description with pictures for doing the chains.

Page is here.