VX Cambelt advice appreciated.

[mikeymikemcmike]

I have been slowly recommissioning a VX Coupe I bought last year. It has been off the road since 2001 and, although it has done hardly any miles since its last cambelt change I think I'm going to change it anyway as it was over 4 years ago. Does anyone have any tips re doing this without the Lancia alignment tool? The Haynes method of "turn the gog oback one tooth and it should fit" sounds highly dubious!
Does anyone have any advice on changing the belt without the tool and is the Haynes method actually sound?

Mike

[Pope1]

Mike, I've done mine a couple of times now without any special tools. I found that the most awkward thing was pushing the tensioner over and locking it to release the tension on the belt. Once I'd done that, I removed the belt carefully and made sure that the cams did not move at any stage.

When refitting the new belt, I started at the bottom and worked my way up as recommended by Haynes. I just threaded the belt on making sure there was no slack anywhere and no movement of any of the wheels. As the space between the cam wheels remained constant, I found the new belt went on in much the same way as the old one came off. That was it. I'm a complete novice at dealing with timing belts but managed to do it the first time with a lot of advice from some kind (and VERY patient) folks on this forum. Perhaps those with more experience will chime in again with more specific tips and tricks.

Good luck.

[Simon T]

I'll second Chris' comment, I have done it twice and both times the cams stayed in position and the new belt slotted into place pretty easily.
Might be worth changing the blower belt as well, it is going to come off anyway...

[Will]

The Haynes method of "turn back cog to nearest tooth" is correct. Here's the reason:

Fresh from the factory, the indicators line up, i.e. when the holes line up, the teeth line up with the belt and all is right with the world.

With the passeage of time, belt stretch, and possible decking to clean up the block and skimming to flatten the head, all have the same net effect: retarding the cams in relation to the crank.

By going back to the nearest tooth in the retard direction when the cams don't line up, you are puitting the cams in the correct original position on the belt.

Hope this helpd / explains adequately.

-Will

[KeppelmanJ]

Here's another method if you're a bit obsessive, enjoy fiddling and have some time on your hands. So it was with me: With the old belt removed and the cams perfectly lined up I took a small piece of aluminum plate, held it next to the cams and scribed a line corresponding to the tooth profiles between the cams. With that negative space cut into a shape so it fit between the cams, it was possible to fit the belt and tighten it with the tensioner with nothing moving. That was with the US cam pulleys. Recently I changed the timing on that engine by buying euro cam pulleys and I'm guessing the fit wont be the same unless I'm lucky and the movement will one tooth exactly or some such!