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I've been using these forums a lot lately and finally decided to make an account in anticipation of my first timing belt change.
I'm 19 and picked up an '88 944 NA (150,000 miles) at the begining of the summer as my first project car, but its recently been shifting more into my daily driver. It has a timing belt change in its records that's well within the mileage interval but over 5 ago, so I got a kit including rollers and a balance shaft belt.
I'm leaving the seals and water pump alone for now (I know thats not a great idea but it's got records from a previous owner so the belts are the only thing really keeping me up at night)
I plan on doing the replacement this weekend, but am reading a lot of mixed information about what I do and don't need and would love some more specific information.
First of all, what special tools do I really need? I'm confident that I can make the pin spanner myself, but do I need a flywheel lock? I've seen people say you can lock it with normal bolts, is this true? do I even need to lock it if I'm not removing the crankshaft gear?
Whats the deal with the flat wrenches for the eccentric tensioners? I have a spring tensioner on the timing belt so do I still need one?
How important is the dreaded 9201 tensioner tool? I know this one has been answered to death, but the bottom line is I can't buy a $500 single use tool. Can I just borrow a univeral tension guage from an autoparts store? How reliable is the 90 degree twist?
Finally, what is the retensioning interval, and tension specs for a new belt v.s. a used belt? I've seen pretty little info about this and am a bit confused about the difference.
I'd really appreciate any other advice or resources especially about 85.5's which seem to be somewhat less documented for this job. I hate to be making a new thread about such a common topic but this is definitely my highest stakes diy so far and I really want to cover all the bases.
When you say you have a spring tensioner, are you talking about the kind that is on the later cars? I don't have the history of the engines in my brain like other folks here, and I know that there are significant dates where changes happened and you can get a mixed bag of original parts within a model year. I don't know when the spring tensioner was introduced.
So all that said, if you have a tensioner like mine ('91 3L engine) then the 9201 tool is unnecessary, as the spring is used to adjust timing belt tension dynamically and will take up any slack that might develop as a belt wears in. Whether or not you want to rebuild that tensioner is a different matter but, even then, I think people are really only talking about the pulleys on that part. If this is, indeed, the kind of tensioner you have then the retensioning interval doesn't apply to your car.
I think the flywheel lock is really handy but, as you say, there are ways to do it with bolts or allen keys. If your timing is good already, though, keeping it good is critical. Here's the video that I used (and used, and used, and used some more) for the timing and balance shaft work I did on my car:
The balance shaft belt also has eccentric tensioners but I found that I didn't need an offset, flat wrench. It might take a little more finagling but you can just use a normal, big wrench. Remember a couple of things with the balance shafts: get the orientation right on the thrust washer (the ones with the holes to read through) and tighten the tensioner in the correct direction (clockwise, I believe).
I've owned and been driving daily mine over ten years and have done the belts a few times. Get the flywheel lock and wrenches kit from Arnworx--it's just so much nicer and not really expensive, esp. for balance belt. I have never used a tension tool on any car Porsche or otherwise and have never had an issue. Take the spring tensioner off, clean it, make sure it moves nice, and just use that according to the directions in the workshop manual (find online). Re-tension after the first two or three thousand miles. You won't have a problem.
When you say you have a spring tensioner, are you talking about the kind that is on the later cars? ... if you have a tensioner like mine ('91 3L engine) then the 9201 tool is unnecessary, as the spring is used to adjust timing belt tension dynamically and will take up any slack that might develop as a belt wears in
I believe he has the trusty old "static" spring tensioner which is basically a tension tool that sets inital tension then just sits there installed. No dynamic adjustment for wear; that's why you have to re-tension after first couple of thousand miles
I was in a similar situation to yours where I was doing belts for the first time and didn't 100% know what to do concerning belt tensioning methods. I ended up going with the Arnnworx maxi kit which includes the tools plus tension tool. On one hand I definitely did not trust myself to tension by feel or the twist method for my first time, and on the other I also couldn't justify tracking down and dropping big bucks on the 9201. The Arnnworx tool was a great compromise and gave me great piece of mind. That being said, maybe there's someone local to you that has the tools and will let you borrow them?
And agreed on loving the roof rack! Very cool. What is your setup for them?
When you say you have a spring tensioner, are you talking about the kind that is on the later cars? I don't have the history of the engines in my brain like other folks here, and I know that there are significant dates where changes happened and you can get a mixed bag of original parts within a model year. I don't know when the spring tensioner was introduced.
So all that said, if you have a tensioner like mine ('91 3L engine) then the 9201 tool is unnecessary, as the spring is used to adjust timing belt tension dynamically and will take up any slack that might develop as a belt wears in. Whether or not you want to rebuild that tensioner is a different matter but, even then, I think people are really only talking about the pulleys on that part. If this is, indeed, the kind of tensioner you have then the retensioning interval doesn't apply to your car.
I think the flywheel lock is really handy but, as you say, there are ways to do it with bolts or allen keys. If your timing is good already, though, keeping it good is critical. Here's the video that I used (and used, and used, and used some more) for the timing and balance shaft work I did on my car: https://youtu.be/9ZsUDETEHvI
The balance shaft belt also has eccentric tensioners but I found that I didn't need an offset, flat wrench. It might take a little more finagling but you can just use a normal, big wrench. Remember a couple of things with the balance shafts: get the orientation right on the thrust washer (the ones with the holes to read through) and tighten the tensioner in the correct direction (clockwise, I believe).
Good luck
I believe it is the same spring tensioner in the '88 2.5L, I've heard people say they can be inconsistent in setting the initial tension, but it makes sense that it would at least take up the slack as the belt wears in.
I think in the interest of convinience i'll give the bolts a try on the flywheel and see if I need to order a lock for next time.
At the end of the day just hearing from another person who has successfully not used the 9201 makes me a lot more confident.
I've owned and been driving daily mine over ten years and have done the belts a few times. Get the flywheel lock and wrenches kit from Arnworx--it's just so much nicer and not really expensive, esp. for balance belt. I have never used a tension tool on any car Porsche or otherwise and have never had an issue. Take the spring tensioner off, clean it, make sure it moves nice, and just use that according to the directions in the workshop manual (find online). Re-tension after the first two or three thousand miles. You won't have a problem.
Love the roof rack
Thats an inspiring run for a daily driver! I'll look into those tools and see if I can get em shipped in time. I'll be sure to clean out the tensioner too, I hadn't seen that mentioned before but I bet grimey ones are behind a lot of the inconsistent tensioning issues I see people complaining about with them.
Thanks!
I was in a similar situation to yours where I was doing belts for the first time and didn't 100% know what to do concerning belt tensioning methods. I ended up going with the Arnnworx maxi kit which includes the tools plus tension tool. On one hand I definitely did not trust myself to tension by feel or the twist method for my first time, and on the other I also couldn't justify tracking down and dropping big bucks on the 9201. The Arnnworx tool was a great compromise and gave me great piece of mind. That being said, maybe there's someone local to you that has the tools and will let you borrow them?
And agreed on loving the roof rack! Very cool. What is your setup for them?
That's already a +2 for the Arnnworx so I'll definitely look into it. Unfortunately shipping in time may be a bit of an issue at this point so I'll throw out a post seeing if anyone local might have one. Probably not a huge deal putting it off another week but it would be another 200ish miles on the old belts.
Thanks for the roof rack appreciation, I've definitely seen some purists turn up their nose at the idea but it actually comes in pretty handy now and then! Those are Yakima Q towers with their standard round bars. 944s use the 'Q4' clip all around which is one of a couple hundred interchangeable clips that make the towers car-specific. You should be able to find the towers and bars pretty dirt cheap on craigslist or ebay (it was $75 for mine with a couple bike racks and wind deflector thrown in), but those specific Q4 clips seem to be getting pretty hard to come by so be paitent and keep an eye out. I ended up paying more for the clips than I did for the rest of the setup in a very bloody bidding war. they work great and look fine though, would definitely recommend.
Was in the same boat as you when I was 21... I Still have the spanner tool I made back then where I used a hole saw and welded two pins on it... 30 years later and about 15 timing belts done on mine and other cars, I still do not own the tension tool or a flywheel lock.
Always always when you are done turn the engine over by hand. This is your double check and will save your butt if you ever have a brain fart or get distracted....
Was in the same boat as you when I was 21... I Still have the spanner tool I made back then where I used a hole saw and welded two pins on it... 30 years later and about 15 timing belts done on mine and other cars, I still do not own the tension tool or a flywheel lock.
Always always when you are done turn the engine over by hand. This is your double check and will save your butt if you ever have a brain fart or get distracted....
+1. No need for flywheel lock, only used for torquing the crankshaft bolt after changing front crankshaft oil seal. Set flywheel on TDC and take a permanent marker to mark the balance shaft gear at the top of its gear with flywheel at TDC.
+1. No need for flywheel lock, only used for torquing the crankshaft bolt after changing front crankshaft oil seal. Set flywheel on TDC and take a permanent marker to mark the balance shaft gear at the top of its gear with flywheel at TDC.
Originally Posted by GPA951s
Was in the same boat as you when I was 21... I Still have the spanner tool I made back then where I used a hole saw and welded two pins on it... 30 years later and about 15 timing belts done on mine and other cars, I still do not own the tension tool or a flywheel lock.
Always always when you are done turn the engine over by hand. This is your double check and will save your butt if you ever have a brain fart or get distracted....
Thanks guys, I'll definitely go foreward without the 'official' flywheel lock then and make sure to turn it over by hand.
10-07-2020, 10:56 PM
My first 944 and first car! (TIMING BELT HELP)
