OK, men. Another picture or two.

The first picture is a 32V interference Shark. Worked fine. Like threading an old movie camera, weird.

The second picture below was my deflowering. Can you see the mistake that caused it to run, but the belt tracked badly? ). Note the left timing gear vs the right. Left is on backasswards. Fixed it.

(16 Valve 928 USA 928 models are non-interference, thank god, as my first attempt, not shown, had the timing out 180 degrees cause I f'd up and used the wrong marks

And an opinion. 944 TB and 928 16V TB jobs, not all that different, maybe a little more lengthy on 928 cause there is more stuff, but also a bit more room to work. 32V is a long job, same skills, just takes more concentration, lots more stuff with those distribs to deal with.

Biggest barrier to these jobs for me --- haste --- impatience and adrenalin. Understand all the alignment marks, don't assume. Its a kick to do and get right. And, the biggest difference between our 928 and 944 forums to me is that you guys need more pictures of stuff you do to help each other!!

 

Congrats to Mark on joining the fray! I hear he completed his timing belt and front engine seals job. Now it's my turn!

 

I have done something like 40 maybe 50...

However, its not the timing belt that makes the job bad I can do that extremely fast on any of 944 series cars. The real problem is the seals on the front of the motor/cam tower gasket/water pump, etc.. etc..

 

Rennlist helped me lose mine!

 

I'm a 1/2 virgin. So I took my car to my father's shop and "helped" him replace the belts and rollers. When done he said he never wanted to touch my car again

So considering he's even rebuilt a 930 engine before, I'm a little concerned about whether I can do this myself or not!

 

Currently working on my second t-belt change, both with water pump change... Going well...

The major PITA is the starter heat shield on the 951, one bolt into the torque tube holds the bastard on...I wiggled my fat *** under there and got it off by feel alone... Boy that is not an hour I will ever get back in my life... But I still love wrenching...

AND the TB/WP change is still easier than A-Arm bushings and Ball joints...IMHO

 

I've done a valve adjustment on my S54, but have been putting off the belt change on my 944. I guess it's a similar style of work... alot of people made the valve adjusment sound like a real PITA. But in reality it was very easy, and straight foward.

 

I finally got around to replacing the belts and rollers on the S2. It took me a good deal longer to complete than I had expected. First I couldn't find TDC on the engine, thenthe crankshaft pulley wouldn't come off, and lastly, I had a really hard time fitting the new cam belt.

Tensioned both belts using the Arnnworx 920X tensioning tool, and when I got it all buttoned up and started the engine, sure enough, there's no belt whine at all. The tool really works!

It's a good thing I bought 4' of heavy pipe to use as a cheater bar, or I wouldn't have been able to get the crankshaft bolt off.

I test drove the car and it feels a bit more "responsive" than before. It never ceases to surprise me how easily these cars are brought back with proper maintenance.

If you're still undecided about doing this, like has been said, the key here is to not rush and check your work.

 

I going to get my Cherry busted real soon but it get's better. Not only do I get to do a T-belt but I also have to relplace or have the head rebuilt. She sits in the garage with a broken one. Anyone have a used head they can part with let me know?

 

My timing belt was last changed 4 years ago, so it will be due for replacement next year. I only drive the car about 3000 miles a year, so it is a time interval based replacement.

So how many people on this site have had a timing belt fail, and did it fail a long way out of the replacement time or miles, or have any failed before the recommended replacement interval. It would be interesting to get an idea of everyones experience - perhaps they should be replaced more frequently than 5 years or 48000 mile? Comments invited.

 

I think belt failures result from a combination of factors, but I would guess that leaking front engine seals, seized waterpumps, rollers/sprockets would have a lot more to do with it than the belt just snapping at random due to wear and age.

This S2 gets driven daily but very short distances, so I confess I played Russian roulette for a few years until I started losing sleep over the thought of the belt going and decided not to put this job off any longer.

The car now has 160K miles. However, the belts, rollers waterpump, and front engine seals had all been replaced at 124K miles, so even though it was done -gasp- 10 years ago, I would think that the freshened seals and rollers at least did not compromise the integrity of the belts. When I took the old belts and rollers off, sure enough, they were in very good condition.

So in summary, if the abovementioned parts have never been replaced, then yes, you might want to hurry up and have this maintenance done. If OTOH the work was done not many miles ago even though it's been a while timewise, then you can probably get away with stretching the maintenance interval but it's obviously not the best idea due to the risks associated with a busted belt on a 16V engine.

 

+1 I drive my NA daily and have a extra head laying at the shop for just that reason. The S2 is currently undergoing new clutch and everything else on the back side of the motor & front end seals, belts, roller and water pump.

I don't dare drive the S2 when I know the front end of the motor is in need of service. I've seen what can happen to those heads when something 'go's wrong' Worse case scenario a new head.. not something i want to try and find and then have to pay for.

 

I am almost done with my belt job for the first time. So far it has not been horrible, all that is left is tensioning and (GASP, EEEK) turning the engine over.

 

On a side note I drove the car for a little over four years with one of the rollers missing and she drove fine. Since I was new to 944s ignorance is bliss and the motor sounded like it had a mild gear drive. Sold the car to a friend/mech, he replaced the t belt, wp, seals, ect and replaced all the rollers except the one that was missing, put I do not know how many miles on the motor. Then one morning he jumps in the car and instead of letting it warm up raps the engine and kapow. Sold high bought low.

 

I have a few heads. Email me at APartAbove@aol.com or give me a call at (440) 666-0350.