As many of you know I've been tearing down and rebuilding my motor for some time now (8 months with maybe 3-4 days worth of total work involved thus far). At any rate, I'm almost done putting my baby back together, but I'm having issues with reinstalling the timing belt. Setting the head to TDC is simple, but I'm having a little more trouble with setting the crankshaft to TDC (i.e. cyl #1 at TDC).

There is a TDC marker on the block, and there are 3-4 circles on the crankshaft's pulley belt, but the service manual makes no mention of these. The description it shows it seems has no accessory belt pulley on the crankshaft gear from my understanding. Either that or I'm just completely misunderstanding the diagram. At any rate, I need to know a couple things, and if anyone can help me I'd seriously appreciate it, as this and replacing the radiator and bumper are the last major things I've left to do.

1. Can the Crankshaft be put at TDC with this pulley on or do I have to remove it and use the timing mark on the gear itself?

2. After reading the manual for the 1.5l Mirage (I've read both 4g and 5g) they indicate that you should set both to TDC then retard the crankshaft 3 teeth on the gear in order to properly set valve timing, and to keep the valves from contacting the pistons if you try to run the car. Is the Lancer the same or is aligning both TDC marks putting the engine right on point for valve timing?

3. Is there an easy way to get the belt back on the cam gear without having 3 hands or two people (to keep tension off the belt) or am I pretty much going to want to call over a friend to help with this?

4. Any other tips, tricks, or advice?

If anyone can help me out I'd seriously appreciate it. It'd be easier to figure out if I didn't swap out my head, and if I didn't need to turn the crankshaft for the piston install, but this is the situation I'm in, so I've gotta do what I've gotta do. Share you infinite wisdom, folks!

 

there are markings on the block, kinda.
take off your passenger front tire. take off all the plastic crap both underneath and on the right side of the tirewell. once you have done that you will see the crank obv, on it there is a little notch cut out of the side closest to the motor. turn that until it lines up with the degree guage located just above it. i have attached a pic of what it looks like from the top. get that notch in the middle as pictured

the big object on the bottom left of the pic is the engine mount.

 

the crank gets put at TDC and the cam gets put at its marked location... there is a dot on the cam gear(that aligns with the point on the head at about 10oclock-10:30 possition. To keep the tension off the belt just loosen the tensioner and use a flat head screw driver to pry it back from the belt... then tighten the tensioner in that location. I've done this job countless times and never backed up 3 teeth for anything. I do start/put on the belt in a clockwise direction starting at the water pump and then, the crank, tensioner etc.

The belt will be a little tight going onto the cam gear. I just angle it slightly up and get it on then walk it back into position. Then loosen the tensioner and it will put the required load on the belt. Then tighten the tensioner in that position. Simple and easy. Lastly i slowly rotate the crank clockwise and ensure that my marks are still in alignement(TDC and Cam gear). If they are then i finish my assembly and call it done.

 

The Crank needs to be at the "T" Which is Top Dead Center. Do not put on the belt and align the cam with it any other position.

 

oh yeah i didn't retard mine at all and i have no probs. if i were u i would use the markings on the head and crank to set each at tdc and then tune from there.
as for not using a friend i did mine myself and if found that putting on one side and then kinda folding it vertical so the bottom comes up higher worked for me. don't know if that makes sense but thats what i did.

i am on aim right now, i notice ur online both on this and aim. im me

 

now that boe said that i am worried. my car may be a lil off lol. i am gonna go get this checked out. later guys

 

THAT is the mark that I was missing. Thank you guys so much! I feel like a dumbass for not seeing the mark, but at the same time it's not documented in the service manual so...I feel slightly less stupid.

If I ever meet you guys I owe you both drinks.

 

Glad you have gotten help.

 

Yeah, timing belt still isn't on though. I definitely have the tensioner as loose as it's getting, but I don't have much spare for screwdrivers to the belt to put it on Boe's way (which I'd like to, but I don't wanna undo a lot of what I've done). At least I know the belt is aligned properly though.

 

For the record...screwdrivers weren't cutting it. Today I break out the crowbar.

 

Done and done. Here's how I ended up doing it.

I stuck a crowbar in a hole in the cam gear and turned it till the other end was pushed up against my frame where the passenger side headlight was. Took a 3' torque wrench and pushed. Once the cam gear was off it was simple. Put it under the belt, put the gear back in place by nudging it and then retightened using the crowbar on the opposite side of the frame so as not to spin the camshaft. I wish I'd found my crowbar 4 weeks ago and done it this way back then.

And thanks again, guys.

 

OK, I know that I'm opening a very old thread here but I'm lost. I may be a douche when it comes to Mitsu's but I can't get compression in this motor at all. I have an 02 Lancer ES with 107,000 miles and the 2.0 engine. It's actually my girl's car. Well, yesterday she was driving on her lunch break and her timing belt actually stripped most of the ribs off of it at the crank area. Luckily she was only doing about 15MPH when it happened. Dude at the Mitsu dealership where I bought the car 4 years ago told me that I probably bent the valves (just like in a Honda) so I'm going to take the head to a machine shop if this continues. Now, I'm an ASE mechanic (Diesel Institute of America) but every vehicle I've ever had was either powered by a timing chain or was one of my Hondas (I know I know, don't hate, I want an Evo just as bad as the next guy). Anyway, I've read this thread over and over and over again and just can't seem to get this car to have ANY compression other than alot of backpressure coming out of the exhaust every once in a while (the sound when the car is out of timing). I have fuel, I have spark, but no kickover. The crankshaft pulley has the marker pointing at T on the lower timing cover and the cam gear's white mark is lined up with the point at the 10:30 mark on the corner of the back of the head. See, that's where I thought I was going wrong because with Hondas, they have two arrows on the gear and have "up" written on them, you know the simple way. I've taken this car apart four times and still no fire. It cranks like I have no compression, obviously I'm screwing up the timing still somehow even though everything is lined up correctly. PLEASE PLEASE help me. I HAVE to get this car fixed. Thanks alot in advance.

 

Sounds like you got the valve timing right. If it threw the timing belt while running, the valves are probably screwed up anyway ( bent, broken, or through the pistons). Have you pulled the head yet? It's not too hard if you have the service manual, it took me about 4 hours the first time I did it.

 

I know their are many threads, so many its hard to find an exact one, therefore I had to grave dig a little bit. Sorry

But I would appreciate anybodys help in this matter.

I replaced my timing belt and everything by the book, until I saw this post, and noticed my crank pully was a lil off the left. I have already changed the belt and put everything back together, but have not started it yet. Is it possible to just turn to crank bolt clockwise to get it in the right spot, then start it up? Im not fully sure how the difference plays between both belts except the tension and leway. Then again, im not sure sure on why it has to be TDC anyway myself, besides a fresh start with no valve crunching.

Thank you once gain, and sorry for the grave dig. If anybody is kind enough, their maybe a thread already out with this question, just tell me search more or a link =)

*Mainly need to know if I have to take everything apart again or not, and if so, whats the best method to this new belt replacement with the marks not fully lined up. *SHould have my homework a lil bit more, i know.

EDIT:
Crank shaft pully *white mark is at just over 3 oclock. Crank pully, based on the image above is just about an inch counter-clockwise turn from the mark (to the left of the TDC mark). I watched a video on older mitus's and figured the white mark on the cam pully had to be at head highth, (3 oclock) and the dot on the cam pully had to be at 12 oclock. Hopefully Im not way off

EDIT:
Pics

 

Here is the proper installation diagram from the FSM: