hey i'm swapping a gsr into my car, and while its out i decided to change the timing belt,

this is what happened, i took off the crank gear, the t-belt covers and valve cover

i turned the crank until the UP marks on the cam gears were pointing up and the 2 notches in between them were aligned

i also made sure the little mark on the crank gear was aligned with the mark on the block

WHAT I DID NOT DO WAS MAKE SURE THE #1 PISTON WAS AT THE TOP
i overlooked this step and I am now worried that i messed up my motor

how crucial is this??????

PS. i also loosened the tensioner pulley I DIDNT TAKE IT COMPLETELY OUT (i was told never to take the bolt out of the tensioner pulley, but then again how are you supposed to change the pulley to a new one?), just enough so that i could slip the new belt on, and then i tightened the tensioner to make the belt tight again

after 2 days i checked the tension in the belt and it seems like its loose, i mean if i apply force i can easily pull it off the cam gears, and i'm worried that under high revs it could slip off any suggestions???????

my main concern though is the #1 piston being at full rise though

 

It sounds like you had the motor at TDC by aligning not only the cam gears, but the crank pulley as well. Your timing belt is loose because you probably did not tension it right. Once you have the timing belt on, crank the engine till the cam gears are about 3 teeth past TDC. Then tighten the tensioner to spec. Turn the crank again and see if there is tension on the timing belt. If not, you need to do the procedure again.

 

so i should set everything back to tdc (line up the gears and crank pulley)

take off the belt, loosen the tensionor pulley, put belt back on,and re-tension as you suggested by going 3 teeth past, tighten, 3 more teeth then tighten, 3 more teeth and tighten, and so on and so on

until its tight enough??????

 

also how do i replace the tensioner pulley with a new one if i'm not supposed to remove the bolt?

 

If done right, you will just need to do it once. Just set everything to TDC, go past 3 teeth, tighten the tensioner to spec, and the timing belt should be set. You do the 3 teeth thing only once.

 

ok i understand thanks for the help

saved my ***

any suggestion on replacing the tensioner pulley?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by bboylito &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">also how do i replace the tensioner pulley with a new one if i'm not supposed to remove the bolt?</TD></TR></TABLE>

You have to remove the bolt. You do not remove the bolt only if the timing belt is still on the motor.

 

Ok i'm going to be very ignorant and make this as fool proof for me as i can. I should set to TDC, then remove my belt, replace the tensioner pulley, then replace the belt. Then turn 3 notches and tension?

Thanks for the help.

 

Yeah...

The warning about taking off the tensioner bolt is for when you're simply tensioning the belt. If you take the bolt all the way off, the tensioner can slide around & you won't get the bolt back in. If that happens you have to take off the lower cover. When you replace the tensioner pulley you have that open anyway...

You turn 3 teeth (counterclockwise) in order to move all the slack over to where the tensioner can take it up. I usually turn it then hold a little tension on the pulley while I loosen & re-tighten the tensioner. The belt isn't supposed to be as tight as your AC belt, so don't overdo it. Being tighter doesn't prevent it from walking off the edge of the pulleys. Those big dished washers at the crankshaft sprocket are for that. If you think it's too loose, maybe replace the tensioner spring if you think it's weakened with age.

You check whether the piston is actually at TDC when you suspect that the marks on the crank pulley are messed up. For example if the rubber isolator within the pulley might be slipping? Or maybe if you suspect the woodruff key is mangled or missing?