So I've been meaning to do this for some time now, and I finally got the parts. I was supposed to be changing it right now with my uncle (mechanic with lift at home), but he decided to go out of town and not tell me instead. Normally I'll just dive into work, but I don't want to chance anything going wrong with this. I'd like to have some experience helping me out, preferably someone who has done the t-belt before and possibly the oil seals. I already have all the belts, oil seals, water pump, and of course oil and coolant. So say I supply some beer and food, would someone like to help? I really want to get it done this week either Tuesday or Thursday if possible. I cook at O'charleys so I work the bullshit hours, nights and weekend nights. I just want to get this done and I'm too worried about it that I don't want to even drive the car unless I really have to.
Thanks. Everything should go well, I do have quite the knack for looking at something and figuring out how it works. Kinda why I'm thinking about going back to school for engineering. Any helpers?
after watching Will perform this service on my car I can say I wouldn't want to do it myself. The driver's side cams move when you take tension off the belt. He had some JDM mcguiver way to get it to line back up without screwing anything up or bending valves. Serriously, he had a 4' breaker bar and some clips it was nuts! There are a lot of pullies to line up and I've done Honda timing belts before.
Yea I think it will probably be a PITA, but reading the online fsm it says that the cams are held at zero lift when the timing belt isn't installed, and that I rotate the left hand cams (intake clockwise, exhaust counterclockwise) as small an angle as possible to get the belt on. Did the passenger cams move when the belt was taken off? Either way I'll pull some USDM mcguiver moves to hold all the cams in place before I start with the tensioner. I take caution and plenty of time when doing something new, but this time it will be exagerated. I have confidence in myself, in fact I feel I can do alot of things better than most people. Any tips anybody wants to throw at me that you noticed might be helpful?
I just did mine and it was a lil intimidating at first but not very hard once you figure everything out. The new belt has the timing marks on it and they align with the marks on the gears. The pass side gears are easy to rotate, they are not under tension but the driver side gears will roll when the belt is removed so just use a 10mm Allen socket to rotate them back. Take note to the instructions as which way they should rotate so you won't damage the valves. It was pretty easy. The hard part would be releasing the tension on the tensioner but I installed a new one so it came with pin in place so I didn't have to worry about that. You pull the pin (and provide tension) at the last step. Here are the Subaru instructions: http://techinfo.subaru.com/html/downloadSpt.jsp?pdf=STi_PERFORMANCE_TIMING_BELT.pdf and a user guide: http://www.scoobymods.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3837&highlight=cam+belt
I read alot about it and thanks for the link. I also checked the file and it's basically the same that I printed out from the online fsm, but definitely easier to read. I don't really think the belt will be that hard, I was more concerned about the oil seals. I'm kinda discouraged to change them, unless I have to. Seems like they would be a real pain to change.
Ok I have a question. Everything is going fine so far. I took out the radiator, top belt cover, both belts, the ac belt tensioner, and both side belt covers. I aligned all timing marks by turning the crank pulley clockwise. I put it in 5th and assumed that was to lock the crank. I slightly tried to loosen the crank pulley, but only slightly so I wouldn't turn it back but maybe a degree which it did. Now the Question. Turning it back with the timing belt still on is fine because everything will still be in sync, correct? If so, how do I stop it from turning so I can take the pulley off? I also have been taking a couple pictures along the way to help aid anyone else that will be doing this themselves.
Don't worry about the belt yet. Get someome to stand on the brake pedal and use a breaker bar to remove the crank pully. Once that is removed then take the belt cover off and put the crank bolt back in so you can use it to rotate the belt and gear marks back to where you want them.
Lol, I tried it just a second ago anyway because I figured it didn't matter that of course everything should still be in sync...but the front wheels moved. Maybe it would help to not be on stands? At least everything is going fine, so far. Just a snag this crank pully is. Thanks for the help.
Everything is going smooth, I had to wait a couple hours + last night for someone to get here to stand on the brake. The bolt came off quite easily then. By then, it was dark so I decided to finish today. EDIT: The belt is off, and the cams did not move. Hmmm. Everything is going good though. Except that Advanced Auto sold me the wrong water pump. Well since there isn't any leaks I'll leave the old one in. And if it does leak after some time, at least I know how to do it. By the way there are no frays or anything on the belt.
I got it all put back together yesterday, except I had yet another mishap including Advanced Auto. The two new belts did not fit. So I took them back and decided to just go get ones from SOG. I used the Subaru timing belt, but figured the other belts and water pump would be just fine...wrong. Oh well it just means a trip to SOG, which I was going to do anyway to get gear oil. The car is running though. Quite smooth if you ask me, except I'm leaking a tad bit of coolant out of the lower radiator hose. I might need to tighten it up just a tad. Freaked me out though after I took a test drive and pulled back up in the driveway, sat there revved it once then went inside and came back out to shut the car off then some smoke came from under the hood. I immediately popped the hood and smelled it was coolant and after further investigating had a tad bit on the lower driver side and noticed it leaking very little from the hose. At least its running like a bat out of hell now. The new t-belt seemed a good bit tighter than the old one.
how in the world did you get the timing belt back on without moving the cams on the intake side? wanna give me a little advice? that is what i have to do next cause the motor is still out of my car and that is pretty much the last thing left to do!
Intake side? Do you mean the driver side? You might want to hold on for some advice, I have a slight problem...I hope it's just my bolt not being in harmonic balance...going to post in the tech section now.