So I've removed the valve cover and cut it so my cam gears are nicely exposed.
I'm thumbing through my Helms, and I was wondering, do I really have to remove the timing belt? ...or can I just slip in the new gears with exsisting tension?
oh, and another question; once I'm tightening the new cam gears in place, don't i have to hold something stationary? ...seems like the cam would turn...
thanks.

 

?

 

^^^

 

Not sure if anyone else can, but I usually have to loosen the tensioner pulley to get the gears on...


Jason

 

you dont have to loosen the timing belt. if you take the cam covers off, u can just pull the belt off.

this will help ya out

http://www.c-speedracing.com/howto/caminstall/cam.html

 

When loosening the bolt from the camgear, how do I keep the cam from moving?

 

I put my own cam gears in. It is not that difficult! ! !

Here are a couple things I did that will make it easier.

Remove sparkplugs so that engine can be turned over easily. I used a 19 mm wrench on the power steering pump to turn over motor. At one point I also had to use a 14 mm wrench on one of the cam bolts to get by a sticking point.

After valve cover removal. I made sure that the cams were at top dead center by making sure that all the marks on the cam gears lined up. Also the ignition timing mark on the crank was lined up at TDC.

The cams can be pinned at TDC by dropping long pins (allen wrenches, for example) through two of the four holes in the long aluminum plates that hold the tops of the cam carriers in place. The other two holes don't line up with anything.

CHANGE ONE GEAR AT A TIME!

Tie wrap the other cam gear to the belt so there wont be any slippage! Now cams are pinned in place and one gear is locked to belt. Not much can go wrong now.

As a safeguard, I used a crayon and put a couple marks on the cam belt that lined up with the TDC marks on the original pulleys. The TDC marks on the new pulleys should line up with these marks. You'll immediately know if something has gone wrong!!!!!!!! (Clever, huh?)

When you remove the stock gear(s) there is an asymmetric woodruff key between the cam gear and the cam to lock it in place. It is VERY easy for this key to drop out and fall behind the plastic belt cover. I removed the gears and put a dab of wheel bearing grease into the woodruff key slot and then replaced the key. Grease should keep it from falling out. I also took an old off-white (Ha!) t-shirt and slid it in under the gears so that anything falling would land on the cloth and not behind the plastic belt cover.

Do visual checks to make sure that the woodruff key is in place after you slide the hub in place and before putting the hex head capscrew back in place. The woodruff key is not a full half-moon and it MUST be put back the same way.

Before I put the new gears in place I dis-assembled them so that I was only working with the center hubs. This made it much easier to install the hubs. The outer gear wasn't fighting with the belt then. It made it easier to tell when the hub slid home and when I torqued the capscrew in place I knew that I was getting a proper torque (41 foot lbs). You must use a torque wrench!

Slide the cam gear pulley into place on the hub and tighten down the screws that hold it in place. Double check that everything is at TDC. Tie wrap the belt to the new pulley and then repeat with the other pulley. Double check on the belt tightness and reassemble plugs and valve cover. Done.

I also use Dow Corning Vacuum Grease (see an industrial house to re-seal the valve cover, etc.
Good luck,
John