Swedge

I'm starting my first Timing Belt and Water pump change on my current project. I think I've located TDC but I can't visualize either fly wheel verification marks.

I have aligned the timing marks on

• the Cam & housing
• the Upper balance shaft
• the Lower balance shaft
• Used a dowel in piston 1 to verify TDC

but

• I can't see the OT and scribe mark through the viewing port by the two sensors by the firewall - the flywheel is quite rusty.
• I don't see a scribe mark on the flywheel when looking underneath where the starter/clutch sits - again flywheel quite rusty so depending on size it'd be easy to miss

So my question is can I go ahead and continue the service having verified first four points of TDC but not the last two? The last thing I want to do is turn a running vehicle into a full rebuild job

Thanks

931guru

On the 83-85/1 flywheel, there is no wide mark on the bottom side. If you rotate the crank 180 (to #2 TDC), you can use a wire brush on the edge of the flywheel (the #1 TDC mark will have moved to the bottom of the flywheel) to polish it up, and maybe put some white paint in the TDC mark (which will show up better on the top opening.)

Then do your points 1 through 4 and you should be able to see the white mark on top;

Swedge

Thanks for the info. When you say turn the crank 180, would that be equivalent to the cam turning 90? There are 2 crank rotations for every 1 cam rotation right?

If I still don't see the the OT mark even after cleaning, do I just 'make my own' with paint?

931guru

Yes, turning the crank 180 implies that the cam will turn 90 (if the belt is hooked up.)

If you put your own OT mark on the flywheel, you will probably put it in the wrong place. The factory OT mark is the only one you should mark with paint (for visibility).

More info here:

http://www.clarks-garage.com/shop-manual/eng-13.htm

Swedge

Thanks!

Swedge

I successfully found TDC marks on the top of the Flywheel, the wirebrush worked perfectly to expose the stamped OT and scribeline.

One hint I will give to anyone else running into this issue is - The OT marks ARE NOT on the same ring as the alignment mark visible through the notch in the bell housing by the clutch/starter. You have to look into the opening where the starter was removed. The OT mark should be slightly visible - just tucked behind part of the housing to the passenger side. To clean the area with a wire brush, the timing marks on the front of the car (balance shafts) will be just shy of lining up. This means the viewing area of the flywheel below is not exactly 180 degrees below the OT stamp.

Thanks for the help in finding my rusty OT mark! hopefully my description will also help some future 944 rookie.