Okay doing my timing belt and I'm getting a little help from a local Porsche owner (Hey Chris) who really is going above and beyond the call of duty, specially since he barely knows me. Anyways We got to the point where the cever was off and we were going to put it at TDC center. Now remember this is an early car. Chris had only done later cars which have a notch in the flywheel that you line up with another notch in the starter case housing. Now I have a notch in the starter case housing, but not a notch in the flywheel.

There is a line with a "10" next to it, but we can't find what to line up to confirm TDC. So what am I missing?

He's letting me use his garage, and I really want to get the car out as soon as possible, so some help would be greatly appreciated.

 

All I can do is PayPal you the cash for a few beers..

Good luck Sid! Since I have a G/F painting my lugs- do I still have to check my nutz??

I believe TDC is the highest point on #1 Cyl..
Someone correct me if i'm wrong..

 

TDC is the overlap of #1. (where the rod tops out and the piston pauses while it changes direction)

In the bell housing, by the reference sensors there is a small square window. Looking down in from the drivers side, there will be a small pointer on the right side of the window. You found the line on the flywheel, and it says OT, meaning top dead. The line underneath it is where you want to line up the pointer to.

On the cam, you want the line on the pointer in the small circular window in the distributor, about the 1 O'clock position.

Also, don't forget the balance shafts. The upper will have a pointer, at about the 1 O'clock, and the lower will have it about 7 O'clock. Both gears have a line and an O. Hard to see the line, since it is on the rear of the gear, but that should be lined up with the pointer. On the face of the gears, the caps will have a cut out for the O, and as long as the caps have not been swithed, you can use the O to line it up. They should correspond.

The resason I mention this is because my caps were reversed from a prior install by the PO, and I had a shaft 180 out when I did the 1st rebuild. Switched the caps and all was well.

Get it all straight, make sure the cam and crank don't move a tooth on the belt when you apply the tension. Some have a tendancy to roll the cam advanced, so just loosen and back it up a tooth if that happens.

Cool? Oh, a small Mag Lite is great for peeking down in there to see the OT line.

 

Yeah, it is. You can put a plastic straw(or something that will not scratch the piston)in the #1 spark plug hole. When it hits the apex of the stroke, you will be damn close. I thought there was a mark on the front of the timing gear on the crank. I think it lines up pointing at the center line of the cylinder? Could be wrong or thinking of another car. The real way, without marks, is to use a dial inicator. Good luck

 

You beat me to it Brian.

 

There is also a line in the flywheel on the early cars, you have the crank 180 degrees out by the sound of it.

 

"In the bell housing, by the reference sensors there is a small square window."

That's what we were looking for. We were under the car in a pool of anti freeze* looking into the starter area for the line up marks. Thanks Perry, that's exactly what I needed to know.

The manuals show the timing marks on the flywheel looking from the starter hole. But that was for 87 and later.

* For your info if your doing it the first time. Drain the cooling system BEFORE you jack up the front end. Chris has the damn car like 8 feet in the air. The result being a constant drip of coolant all over his nice clean garage.

Thanks again Perry.

 

Martin.

I don't think so (not disagring) but we've checked it multiple times. I think Perry's advice is going to fix it right up.

Thanks

 

Perry is right. Also, once you have the belt on and tensioned, turn the engine over by hand with all the plugs out to make sure it does not hit valves since its your first time. It is always better to be safe than sorry like the guy I am buying a car from tomorrow. He was doing a water pump replacement for a running car and ended up with bent valves in all 4 cylinders and 0 compression in any of them. Good luck.

 

Will do.

 

Thanks Perry et al.

Got the timing belt on and tensioned. Balance belt on and waiting to be tensioned. Really don't like this whole design.

But I digress.

Id really like to get the balance rollers properly lined up, buit the procedure (via clark's) is a little soft. Any hints or tricks?

Hope to be finished early tomorow, so I can get out of Chris's hair.

Got a Thermo switch, new Wp and thermostat as well as some hose clamps. Any oyher suggestions for a first time Timing belt guy, guys and gals?

 

As long as the rear cover is on, you'll line up the O (or the line at the rear of the gear) to the indicator. Top will be at 1 o'clock, bottom about 7. Other than that, I gots no more tips.

 

Sid -

If you're still having issues - email me and we'll get on the phone.

HTH!

 

sid, the balance shaft pulleys each have two keyways, the top shaft uses the keyway marked with an "O" the bottom shaft uses the keyway that is not marked with an O, or is marked with a U. There are notches on the rear flanges of the gears that should line up with the timing marks on the rear cover, the upper mark is a V notch and the lower mark is a pointer at about the seven o'clock position. When you apply tension to the belt rotate the tensioner pulley for the bal. shaft belt in a clockwise direction, the tensioner for the cam belt should be rotated in the opposite direction, this gives the best wrap on the water pump, that is to say, puts as much belt as possible in contact with the pulley. The idler pulley for the bal. belt should be installed in such a way that there is .5mm clearance between the bottom of the pulley and the top of the belt on the lower bal shaft and so that it deflects the long length of the bal shaft belt about 3mm upwards. Sorry but its more difficult to describe than to do. If you have an updated bal. belt set the tension to 3.5 on the gauge. The updated belt is 18mm wide, the orig. belt was 15mm. Good luck Mark T.

 

"notch and the lower mark is a pointer at about the seven o'clock position"

Yeah that's what I got from Clark's it's the "about" stuff that gets me. Basically if the balance shafts are off you will get vibrations. Well were do I put them. About the 7'oclock position.

Jay popping a mail now.