I was wondering what are the ways to get the belt back on a b18b and lined up properly. Im always getting to much slack between the intake and exhaust cam gears any tips would be helpfull .

 

Start from the bottom up... the last thing you should hit is the tensioner cuz it will take care of the extra slack

 

Ok, listen carefully as I had this problem and ppl told me wrong things.

After putting the belt on, with the tensioner bolt on finger tight, turn the crank counterclockwise until u see the cam gears move only 3 notches. Loosen and retighten tensioner bolt.
Spin the crank and make sure that the tension is even and never is too much slack in between cam gears. Let me know if you need me to elaborate more.

 

Alright, here is the CORRECT way to install the timing belt to ensure that everything is tensioned properly.

First of all, be sure you do NOT simply start at the crank and slip the belt over everything in order and ending with the exhaust cam gear. You will end up with too much slack between the exhaust cam gear and the crank sprocket, and will likely be 1-2 teeth off after rotating the engine a few times.

So to start off, make sure everything is lined up properly (mark on crank sprocket lined up with mark on oil pump, index marks on cam gear aligned, #1 piston at TDC). Next, loosen your tensioner pulley bolt, pull it down all the way, and snug down the bolt to hold it there. That will make it easier to get the belt on without damaging the belt teeth.

Now start installing the belt around the crank pulley sprocket, around the tensioner pulley, and the water pump. Now this next part is very important!! You MUST install the belt over the exhaust cam gear next (after the water pump), and then finally the intake cam gear. The reason is that by doing this, you can pull the belt taught between the crank sprocket and the exhaust cam gear to ensure that there is no excessive slack.

Now at this point the belt may be a little loose around the water pump and tensioner pulley. That's okay. Release the tensioner pulley bolt and let the spring snug the belt into place. Now tighten the bolt again (just snug it down).

Now you need to rotate the engine over several times to make sure everything stays lined up properly. 5 or 6 full crank rotations is specified by the Helms manual, but you'll need to rotate an even number of times to bring the UP arrows back up on the cam gears and the index marks back into alignment.

So assuming that everything is still lined up after rotate the crank, you need to finalize the belt tension. Loosen the tensioner pulley bolt again, and turn the crank just enough to move the cam gears about 3 teeth past each other. What this does is cause the belt tension to pull the tensioner pulley down a bit, taking any last bit of slack in the belt. Finish up by tightening the tensioner pulley bolt. If the engine is out of the car, you can put a torque wrench on it. If it's in the car, you probably won't be able to get a torque wrench on there, so just tighten it down pretty good.

And that is the proper way to install a timing belt.

Despite this, though, I still put marks on my sprockets and old belt, and transfer the marks to my new belt just to make totally sure everything gets lined up properly.

 

^

He is correct.