Mongo

Well it's official now. I will be tearing into my car next Monday to change the timing belt and water pump. I have a Porkensioner frame and will be buying the corresponding parts to complete the kit later. The project will be long since I'll be buying parts as I go. My biggest concern right now is cam and oil gear wear. Seeing that I have 160,000 miles on the car now, I'm sure they will need replacing.

Since I will be changing the tensioner out, I have decided to use an early 928 water pump to save me some cash as well. Of course, this will be a new Laso one.

To help out wih the DIY, I'll be using John Pirtle's timing belt guide since Dwayne's pic intensive one takes forever to load on my home PC.

Site below:
http://members.rennlist.com/pirtle/tbelt.html

I'll be taking pictures and uploading as I go. Feel free to add any tips and advice as I proceed along - Lord knows I need them! Blast off starts next Monday and I'll be putting an hour in a day during my lunch hour since I will be working late nights here. Lunch is the only time I can really work on the car aside from maybe some Sundays.

vanster

Andy
If you have taken the inspection cover off it's not hard to see if you have worn cam gears. Mine were concave. I called Tom at 928 International and got a complete set of used but perfect gears. The ones I took off were aluminum and I replaced them with steel.
If the one on the passenger side is worn, my guess is that both are as well as the oil pump.
Once you are in this you might as well get it all done for piece of mind

dr bob

Have fun!

It's worthwhile loading -and saving- Dwayne's tutorials, so you have them on hand to use when needed.

Take lots of pictures. When I did my first one, I ran the video camera and narrated as I took things apart. It was priceless when there was any possible confusion on what went back where and in what order. I used John Pirtle's excellent guide.

I can't speak to the parts procurement in stages, except that it's way frustrating to get into something only to find out that a critical piece is missing. My solution was to call 928 Int'l, and have Jim (at the time, now Tom) put together a complete timing belt "care package". It came with -all- the bearings, seals, tensioner parts, rollers, bolts and circlips needed to do the job, along with the belt and water pump. There were parts I didn't know I needed until I was into the job (eg: the o-ring for the bottom of the dipstick tube), so I was able to cruise through unbothered by missing parts.

Since the coolant was out, I took the opportunity to replace ALL the coolant hoses, including that sucky one under the reservoir and the ones that go to the heater core.

Since the PS reservoir was coming out of its bracket, the hoses there were replaced.

Thermostat and seals are good candidadtes at this time too.

Get the seals for the block drains. If you can drain the block from the lower galley drains, it will save you a bath/mess when you pull the waterpump.

Grab a few cheap dishpans to use as parts holders. Ziplocs keep fasteners for each subassembly together, and are easy to write on and/or ziptie to the assemblies.

Place parts and assemblies in order on your worktable as you take them out. Clean/prep/refurb/replace the parts in that set as needed. Then work backwards through the bins and bags as you reassemble. That way there's less chance of having surplus pieces and bolts at the end.

Do as much cleaning as you possibly can before you start serious disassembly. This project is a lot less tedious if you don't have to scrape through layers of slime and crud to find a bolt head or other part.

Mongo

I intend to fully clean the front of the engine once everything is apart. Since my intake service, the entire compartment is super clean. I figure I might as well get the timing belt area up to the same expectation.

I do have a question with cam gears. Since mine are aluminum like every other one that needs replacing, can they be re-coated? I have heard of it being done before. They are annodized if I'm not mistaken.

SMTCapeCod

IIRC they can be recoated if only the coating is worn- but it's often the substrate.

Also- some folks auger toward updating to the newer pumps if I remember correctly. One of the mounting points for the pulleys is improved I think...I don't recall whether the porkensioners renders that moot or not...Sorry not too specific but perhaps someone can square that away before the parts orders roll..

Simon928

I just did my first one as well, and it's honestly not very difficult, and this is coming from someone who hadn't so much as changed the oil on a car before I bought my 928 two years ago. Lots of people here are incredibly knowledgeable and helpful, so just take your time and ask questions if you're stuck. Good luck!

Mongo

I've done numerous TB/WP changes on my old 944s, but this is a first for me with the 928. I'm not afraid to get my hands dirty in the front of the engine again. However I am nervous since I have 4 times the amount of valves that belt is tracking and I don't want to screw the timing up.

Mongo

Hmmm, now what is the price of replacement then? I figure mine are screwed based on the miles of my car. I'll snap pics once I get the covers off.

MainePorsche

dr bob's recommendation of labeling ziploc bags with the various bolts/washers, etc. from each assembly you dissect is really a very useful thing to do.
I also used a paint pen and labeled each bolt from the water pump take down (and each hole from where the bolt came) for not all bolts are the same length. Some do enter the water chamber.
Also definitely replace the molded low pressure hose from the bottom of the PS reservoir to the pump. The contours of this molded hose make it crack and fail easily, and it is a pain to replace as a singular procedure. It is cake once everything up front is cleared.
The job is not that bad... read through Pirtle more than once before you start... divide the job into sections, and know what you are going to do in that section before you get there. The cam timing business isn't bad, but I understand the nerve wracking feeling due to potential consequences. I still feel that way even though I can do a TB/WP cold. Follow Pirtle, have a second pair of hands available to maintain the cam position on its mark while you as captain on deck monitor your position at TDC and do the honor of belt placement. Repetitively make sure you are at TDC or 45deg when you have to be.
No Good Luck's... it is not needed.
Have Fun !

jeff spahn

Exactly!! ^^^^^^ Do you have the 32Vr tool? If not I can ship it to you for use on this project. I'd just ask for you to cover shipping.

Make sure you put the RTV/Hondabond 4 on the bolt that the instructions tell you to or you'll have an oil leak (don't ask me how I know. still fighting it from not doing that). Also, you may have occasional "belt tension warning lights". this is a known ground issue. You can ignore the lights with the porkensioner. Still get your heart going a bit when they pop up. I get them around 6300 rpm then they go away. Call it a shift light.

Mongo

Thanks for the suggestions. I have the passenger side cap off. I screwed up my wiring order to the cap though and had to do some searching in the archives for the firing order. Rather than removing the accessories on the bottom of the car, I figure I'd start at the top and get the timing covers off the cams for some pics. However, I was struggling trying to remove the passenger side cam. I think I may have missed the oil dipstick bolt. Got a little tired so I called it a night. Initially I was going to start this Monday, but I wanted to jump on it as soon as I came home from work (which was late). Gonna go get some dinner now..


Jeff, thanks for the request for the 32vr, but there is a local Rennlister who will be letting me borrow the tool. I appreciate the generosity of this community every time I sign on here!

For future reference when I put everything back together affiliated with ignition wires:

SMTCapeCod

I didn't provide much good information there...here's some amplifying info. I talked with a shop about the job and they would only do it if they could retrofit the newer style pump onto my S3. With the Pkensioner i think I went with the later model as well...but I was in a similar state of mind to yours and remained in denial throughout the job- very lucky to have talented, helpful hands in the local crew.

http://jenniskens.livedsl.nl/Technic...6/MyTip684.htm

Mongo

I thought porkensioner users can use the early water pumps without the additional roller? On a side note, while we are on the topic of cooling now, I noticed my lower radiator hose needs replacement and is quite old.

Mongo

Small update:

I did a little bit of inspection on the car prior to coming into work this morning at 7. I can confirm that my low pressure power steering reservoir hose is leaking. My alternator also has a bunch of crap built up on it (probably from power steering fluid caking the grease on). I should correct myself, my PS fluid is actually Dexron III ATF. I want to pull the alternator and do some cleaning, but can't see any of the bolts other than the one that tensions the belt, and mounts the alternator to the accessory console. On the back of the alternator, how many screws/bolts are holding the wires to it, including the voltage regulator?

EDIT: Nevermind, I found a picture.

Mongo

Hmm... since I'll be doing radiator hoses, anyone wanna talk me out of getting this?