So cam install went awry last night. Could not get one of the cam gears back on as the belts slack had tightened up and it was impossible to align the dowel and the bolt hole for the exhaust or intake cam.

Anyway, timing belt will come off tonight. My timing belt has <30,000 kms on it (so like 20k miles). I am hoping that I can just set the crank pulley to tdc, remove the timing belt, put both these cam gears back on, set them to tdc, double check oil pump alignment, and put it all back together.

I shouldn't have to **** with the balancer belt right? I am not doing this to replace anything, just reset. I have a t belt tensioning tool and all the needed tools. My timing experience with 4G63 motors is a 1997 Eclipse GST.

Other than the balance belt removal steps is there anything in this guide I can skip over? https://www.evolutionm.net/forums/evo-how-tos-installations/467552-how-timing-belt-balancer-shaft-belt-accessory-belt-replacement.html

 

You need a 2nd pair of hands.

To hold or move the opposite cam so you can get more slack on the other cam gear.

 

My friend and I were at this for three hours. Tried everything. He had done the cam job before too, it's just right messed up.

 

Keep trying.

If you remove t belt you dont need to remove or time the balance shafts unless you remove the belt. But there is 1 balance shaft that needs to be timed.

It can be timed on the mark but the counter weight is off time.

The way you do it is.


Set the balance shaft on the mark and if it wants to rotate on its own its wrong. You shoulf spin it 180 degrees then.

Spin the balance shaft slowly let it spin to the timing mark on its own then you know its timed correct.

If its set on the mark and you notice it wants to spin forward you need to rotate it 180 degrees. Hope this makes sense.

 

This should help

 

Sounds like you didn't use the tool that holds the tensioner compressed.

 

Thanks for the advice. I tried multiple things to not have to tear down the timing side such as rotating the crank to advance timing or vice versa but I could not get one or the other gear to line up.

Thanks for the tip and the video regarding timing the balancing shaft. I plan on just leaving the timing belt on the crank sprocket. Just need to get the top loose and the tensioner out so I can get the cam gears properly.

 

Did you not use the tensioner rod?

 

I did, it's still in there actually. There was a ton of slack when the gears came off, but it was too tight when I went to put them back on.

 

I know what you mean that happened to me on the last cam install i did. Took me a few hours and 2 sets of hands but we got em done.

 

Haha thanks for the encouragement. I get off work at 8 PM tonight and hope to have it on the road by 2 AM.

Just a huge bummer, it had gone super smooth up to that point, a big part of that being my friend who helped me had previously done the install on his own vehicle.

 

I've done this a couple of times and I just pulled the belt. But, whatever short cut you wish to employ, figure it could go awry and have the engine at top dead center, the timing marks lined up and have painted marks on the belt and onto all the sprockets. Then the worst you've got is a simple timing belt job.

 

I also always just remove the belt.


But for leaving the belt on, I would imagine you need to leave the valvecover off so you can get wrenches on the cams so you can rotate them into position.

 

I got to the point of getting everything off last night. I just need to put the cam gears back on and realign the cams to tdc, throw the belt back on, and put it back together. These kind of jobs always make me a little nervous. Going to finish it tonight as I don't work Fridays so I can stay up as late as need be and not worry about being a zombie at work.
The valvecover is still off from doing the cams. The belt etc is off at this point. Just have to put the cam gears back on and realign them to tdc and then it's just reassembly.

Also, man, that water pump pulley is a way bigger ***** to get at than it was on my Eclipse!

 

Assuming the passenger side motor mount is already off, Jack the engine up to bring the water pump pulley up with it. I then use a 10 mm box-end wrench And hold it on the bolt while I spin the pulley to tighten or loosen.