Someone give me the confidence for a reseal and belt job
03-22-2007 | 12:59 AM
#1
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From: New Hampshire(US)
Someone give me the confidence for a reseal and belt job
Hey guys,
I've been saying to myself (and Derek) that I'm going to do my timing belt and front engine re-seal for literally months and months. Now that my business is more settled and I have a little extra spending money, I think it's finally time to stop procrasinating. The weather is getting better and I just plain miss driving the thing.
I'm just very unsure about doing it myself - I have the parts sitting right here next to me, and I'm just about ready to order the arrnworx maxi kit, but I'm paranoid about breaking things.
I guess all I'm really looking for is some success stories from other people that had no idea what they were doing with these jobs either.
I've been saying to myself (and Derek) that I'm going to do my timing belt and front engine re-seal for literally months and months. Now that my business is more settled and I have a little extra spending money, I think it's finally time to stop procrasinating. The weather is getting better and I just plain miss driving the thing.
I'm just very unsure about doing it myself - I have the parts sitting right here next to me, and I'm just about ready to order the arrnworx maxi kit, but I'm paranoid about breaking things.
I guess all I'm really looking for is some success stories from other people that had no idea what they were doing with these jobs either.
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03-22-2007 | 02:20 AM
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From: New Hampshire(US)
Originally Posted by tod84944
It is actually simple to do. After doing it a couple of times, you will make the timing belt a once a year job!!
03-22-2007 | 02:40 AM
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From: St Augustine, FL
I have dreams all the time that my engine blows up....scares the crap outta me.
Once I dreamt I was cruising along, then all of a sudden I hit a huge bump and the engine cuts out, guages are dead.
I looked in the rear view mirror and the engine was laying in the street, it fell out.
I think something is wrong with me...
Once I dreamt I was cruising along, then all of a sudden I hit a huge bump and the engine cuts out, guages are dead.
I looked in the rear view mirror and the engine was laying in the street, it fell out.
I think something is wrong with me...
03-22-2007 | 02:52 AM
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From: Montreal, QC
Originally Posted by Airflite40
I have dreams all the time that my engine blows up....scares the crap outta me.
Once I dreamt I was cruising along, then all of a sudden I hit a huge bump and the engine cuts out, guages are dead.
I looked in the rear view mirror and the engine was laying in the street, it fell out.
I think something is wrong with me...
Once I dreamt I was cruising along, then all of a sudden I hit a huge bump and the engine cuts out, guages are dead.
I looked in the rear view mirror and the engine was laying in the street, it fell out.
I think something is wrong with me...
Clowd... Get to work!
03-22-2007 | 02:55 AM
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From: Napa Valley, CA
No, don't believe the hype. Replacing the front engine seals is not a cake walk. However, if your seals are leaking, then by all means you have to do what you have to do. If you have read the "procedure", I'm sure you are aware that are many many steps involved and one of the hardest part of the job will be removing the rear belt cover, which requires removing the crankshaft pulleys and gears, which requires removing/"breaking" the crank bolt and then using gear pullers on the rest.
Clear a lot of workbench space so that you can place all those parts you will be removing somewhere where they won't get all mixed up come time for reassembly. Also, plastic baggies and a sharpie for labling sets of parts will go a long way to helping you put it back together without going through that, "oh, wow, I've got these little extra bolts left over" syndrome.
Hey, since you are going to go through all this work, you might as well also replace the waterpump, and since you are already there, you might also consider replacing the oil pressure regulator valve seals (just a thought)?
Anyway, if at anypoint you get stuck, just post pictures of the problem area. May the boost be with you.
Clear a lot of workbench space so that you can place all those parts you will be removing somewhere where they won't get all mixed up come time for reassembly. Also, plastic baggies and a sharpie for labling sets of parts will go a long way to helping you put it back together without going through that, "oh, wow, I've got these little extra bolts left over" syndrome.
Hey, since you are going to go through all this work, you might as well also replace the waterpump, and since you are already there, you might also consider replacing the oil pressure regulator valve seals (just a thought)?
Anyway, if at anypoint you get stuck, just post pictures of the problem area. May the boost be with you.
03-22-2007 | 04:07 AM
#12
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From: Vancouver,BC
Originally Posted by Yummybud924
II's not that difficult but it's time consuming especially if it's your first time and you haven't worked on cars a lot. I also heard a lot of people say that it's difficult and I should just take it to a shop but it's really not that hard and I'm definately not a mechanic. The thing is that you get nervous because if you mess up the timing you can ben your valves.
doing the water pump and oil seals takes much more time but it's not really that hard.
one thing about the water pump (don't want to scare you) is that you may break a couple of bolt in the block because they tend to corrod and get stuck in the block. If that happens it's kind of a pain because you have to drill it out which isn't that easy.
other than that you just have to make sure you follow all the steps in clarks garage and use proper tools (torque wrenches, arnnworx too, flywheel lock etc).
One thing I found difficult was tensioning the timing belt properly, I had the arnnworx tools also (both the kricket and 920x but both did not work for me, the kricket actually worked better for me) but this isn't that important as you can just set it by feel and then take it to a porsche shop to get it checked.
the first time I did it (last summer) it took me a pretty long time mostly because I broke the water pump bolts and I also messed up a oil seal install and had to order another one.
you can do this on ramps and just remove the radiator fan to get more room.
tools you'll need include a torque wrench going to 160 ft-lbs, a small inch pound wrench for the smaller torques, like the water pump bolts and a breaker bar for teh crankshaft bolt
non of this is rocket science but it helps if you don't need to do this in a hurry and having a garage can be nice too, I did it outside.
just make sure you set the engineto tdc and lock the flywheel before removing the belts/ after that don't move the camshaft.
I would say this job isn't really fun to do but if you do it once next time it should be fairly simple to do and when you have all the tools it'll be cheap the next time you want to replace the belt.
doing the water pump and oil seals takes much more time but it's not really that hard.
one thing about the water pump (don't want to scare you) is that you may break a couple of bolt in the block because they tend to corrod and get stuck in the block. If that happens it's kind of a pain because you have to drill it out which isn't that easy.
other than that you just have to make sure you follow all the steps in clarks garage and use proper tools (torque wrenches, arnnworx too, flywheel lock etc).
One thing I found difficult was tensioning the timing belt properly, I had the arnnworx tools also (both the kricket and 920x but both did not work for me, the kricket actually worked better for me) but this isn't that important as you can just set it by feel and then take it to a porsche shop to get it checked.
the first time I did it (last summer) it took me a pretty long time mostly because I broke the water pump bolts and I also messed up a oil seal install and had to order another one.
you can do this on ramps and just remove the radiator fan to get more room.
tools you'll need include a torque wrench going to 160 ft-lbs, a small inch pound wrench for the smaller torques, like the water pump bolts and a breaker bar for teh crankshaft bolt
non of this is rocket science but it helps if you don't need to do this in a hurry and having a garage can be nice too, I did it outside.
just make sure you set the engineto tdc and lock the flywheel before removing the belts/ after that don't move the camshaft.
I would say this job isn't really fun to do but if you do it once next time it should be fairly simple to do and when you have all the tools it'll be cheap the next time you want to replace the belt.
Originally Posted by Airflite40
I have dreams all the time that my engine blows up....scares the crap outta me.
Once I dreamt I was cruising along, then all of a sudden I hit a huge bump and the engine cuts out, guages are dead.
I looked in the rear view mirror and the engine was laying in the street, it fell out.
I think something is wrong with me...
Once I dreamt I was cruising along, then all of a sudden I hit a huge bump and the engine cuts out, guages are dead.
I looked in the rear view mirror and the engine was laying in the street, it fell out.
I think something is wrong with me...
that's so funny, I thought I was going insane when I had a dream like that too, I'm not even joking. I had a dream that my timing belt broke when I went to crank my engine I pieces of the engine started flying everywhere and I was like "nooooooooooo" in slow motion.
maybe it's time to get rid of the car when it starts giving you nightmares about timing belts
[/QUOTE]
03-22-2007 | 10:14 AM
#14
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From: Mid Michigan
I'm just going to have a nervous breakdown when I first start the car after
I'm sure everyone felt that way their first time, too... close your eyes, hope it's not too painful...
I'll be doing mine this summer - also for the first time ever! (on any car)
Originally Posted by Mike C.
above all, don't rush it.
03-22-2007 | 10:33 AM
#15
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From: Burlington ky
Originally Posted by Deansk8flip
about how long does it take to replace the belt yourself?
i can do a belt job in like three hours now. SHouldnt take more than a saturday for a newbe though.