Help. i am going to change my cambelt and waterpump myself

[darrenrosser]

I am loooking to change my cambelt and water pump myself, i do not want to pay out the riduculously high rates round here so going to get the kit and do it myself, what would you suggest i am careful about and anything i need to know apart from how to do it cos i know that lol

cheers

[paxo89]

I know this doesn't help but imo if you're not sure about it 100% don't bother doing it, for something like a cam belt change, if you don't do it right in the first place, it's gonna cost you a hell of a lot more than it would if you got it done by a pro in the first place.

[leighk18]

do you have the right stuff to do the cam timiing your self etc as if you dont you are jsut going to make it a lot worse and risk not doing timing right which will cause you to bend vavles in the head which will cost you a lot more than just paying to get it done in the first place

[Rez]

It's straight forwards on the VTR especially if you have the Haynes bible just make sure you lock the timing off properly as described in the Haynes and you should be good. The water pump can be a twat mine was seized and took about an hour to get out but it gave up in the end. As for tensioning the belt do it old school if you don't have a tensioning kit/home made tool. IE you should just be able to tweak the belt through to 90 degrees using you finger/thumb at the midway point between the camshaft sprocket/crankshaft pulley. Good luck if you do the job yourself matey.

[darrenrosser]

It's straight forwards on the VTR especially if you have the Haynes bible just make sure you lock the timing off properly as described in the Haynes and you should be good. The water pump can be a twat mine was seized and took about an hour to get out but it gave up in the end. As for tensioning the belt do it old school if you don't have a tensioning kit/home made tool. IE you should just be able to tweak the belt through to 90 degrees using you finger/thumb at the midway point between the camshaft sprocket/crankshaft pulley. Good luck if you do the job yourself matey.

Cheers mate this was really helpful whast IE and what do you mean by tweaking the belt through to 90 degrees cheers

[Rez]

Forget the EI Daz. Once you have your new belt on you have to tension it. If you don't have any kit for doing it you simply adjust the tension pulley until you can twist the belt 90 degrees half way between the crank pulley and the cam sprocket with just your finger and thumb then dog the pulley up and check the belt again by twisting it. Hope this is a bit clearer for you mate.

[darrenrosser]

yeah it is thanks for that really appreciate it do i have to remove the crankshaft pulley what series engine is the vtr
cheers

[Rez]

yeah it is thanks for that really appreciate it do i have to remove the crankshaft pulley what series engine is the vtr
cheers

No mate don't remove the crankshaft pulley, and the procedure is the same for 90bhp and 98bhp engines. All you need to undo to get the actual belt off is the belt tensioner pulley. Just make sure you have put locked the timing in place before you undo anything though.

[Keeley]

Do the white lines on the cambelt have to be lined up anywhere in particular when replacing the belt on a VTR? It doesn't mention this in the Haynes manual anywhere.

[darrenrosser]

what do you mean put locked the timing in place before i do anything ?

[Keeley]

what do you mean put locked the timing in place before i do anything ?

Think he means make sure you've found TDC by lining up the hole on the camshaft sprocket with the hole in the engine block, and then locking it in place. If its a 1.6 8V VTR for example, the hole on the camshaft should be at the 2'oclock position when at TDC and you can lock it with a 10 mm drill bit. Also make sure the flywheel is locked when at TDC using a 5mm alan key in the case of a 1.6 8V VTR.

[Rez]

Think he means make sure you've found TDC by lining up the hole on the camshaft sprocket with the hole in the engine block, and then locking it in place. If its a 1.6 8V VTR for example, the hole on the camshaft should be at the 2'oclock position when at TDC and you can lock it with a 10 mm drill bit. Also make sure the flywheel is locked when at TDC using a 5mm alan key in the case of a 1.6 8V VTR.

Sorry mate I went out, Keeley's exactly right.