jeeper31

Trying to find TDC on my first t-belt job. There doesn't seem to be any marking on the flywheel but there does seem to be a hex screw that I see pass the window. Does this have anything to do with TDC?

Spidey944

www.clarks-garage.com has pics of what you need to look for.

Cris Brady

Here's the way to get close, maybe it will help you. It was the only way I was able to find it when I did my head gasket.

Pop off the little rubber cover on the front of the camtower. Run the crankshaft until you see the mark in the window. It lines up with a little dimple on the top. That should put you pretty close. Verify by checking the flywheel. As spidey says, check ClarksGarage.

here's a pic of what I'm talking about:

PSUice944

Have someone else either turn or look real close with real good light down there... That's what I had to do.

Oh yeah, and Clarks Garage FTW!

RedlineMan

Hey;

The mark is extremely hard to see, particularly with the usual lightly rusted flywheel. If you really want to be certain, pull the #1 plug, slip a small rod or dowel in and bring the crank around till the stick stops rising. This will put the mark in the ball park.

If the mark is lined up EXACTLY with the tab on the block, you often cannot SEE it. It has to be slightly offset to one side or the other. Once you verify that it is indeed in range, then you can set it to exact TDC, and also verify all your other reference marks on the gears and belt rollers. This is not only a great way to familiarize yourself with how everything works, but it will make you feel very confident as well.

The allen head set screws you see on the flywheel are the pins that trigger the signal to the crank reference/speed sensors.

AKCJ

This is exactly what I had to do sunday. The only problem I had with this is that I just grabbed the nearest "small rod" which happened to be a ball point pen & it got bent up pretty badly. It didn't slide up when the piston came up but got pinched in there so I had to back up and start over. NBD.

Maybe use something like a 6" extension out of your 1/4" socket set?

The mark is really hard to see through the little window in the bell.

Mamooguy

Clarks Garage link

Cris Brady

I have the "advantage" of doing a rebuild with the engine out of the car. I touched up the flywheel and bellhousing to make it easier for me later. So I can show you some clean pics of what you're looking for.

Here's the flywheel painted with the TDC mark



And this is how it looks through the little window. This is angled a little bit better than what you would see laying on top of your motor.

Mamooguy

Wow, great pics.

Colour everything black and it could look just like my engine.

Smoker324

Rather than a dowel -- I use a plastic drinking straw to test for tdc....

-Dan C.

xsboost90

that top one is always hard to see- unless you paint it yellow- there is another mark on the bottom of the flywheel and a notch in the bottom of the bellhousing at the absolute lowest part of it. Line the groove up w/ the notch in the bellhousing and your dead on. Ive been using this method the last five six belts ive done and always seems to work much easier.

billthe3

Once I got the engine to TDC I pulled out the starter to put in the thing to keep the engine from spinning, but before I put that in place I painted a line on the flywheel and bellhousing that I can now easily find to set TDC with the starter motor off.

(sorry if that doesn't make sense, I'm getting pissed off because I'm having a big coughing fit)

potent951turbo

Good tip Dan! I am going to have to try this method on my next t-belt job. It has to beat pulling the heater valve out of the way and laying aross the engine to see in the upper window of the bellhousing. Does the bottom notch have any markings on it, or is it just a groove?

xsboost90

there is an 1/8" groove that fits perfectly between the notch in the bellhousing underneath. When this is aligned the upper mark aligns as well. Also if you have the crank pulley off the keyway should point towards the cam in a straight line.

joonas

Clarks Garage picture


You need to remove flywheel protecting cover.