RE: timing belt change

[Jonas Karlsson <jkarlsso@metabolex.com>]

Brian wrote:

>I am planning on changing my timing belt myself if it is easy, so 
>I can save the $180.

Great!  Just keep in mind that the reason the mech charges $180 is 
because it takes a while to do. It's not hard though. Slightly more 
difficult than changing brake rotors and pads. More patience is 
required. 

> It looks pretty straight forward, remove the V-belts, and cover.  

Well, it's easier said than done. The pulleys need to be removed to get 
the lower cover off. There are many tips, tricks and tools you can use 
for the job, but they've been recited too many times to repeat. They are 
all 6mm allen key bolts. The problem is that the pulles spin easily, and 
the bolts are on there tight. Also be careful to not strip the 
crankshaft pulley bolts. 

tools that make the whole job easier are, multiple 6mm allen keys, WP 
pulley removal tool (not necessary) and the tensioner tool. 
  
>Is it safe to say that being the car is already timed all I need to do 
is >take the old one off and slap on 
>the new one and the car would still be timed properly


NO!!  Your timing will most likely be off when changine timing belts.
 
The reason the timing changes is that the tensioner stretches the timing 
belt a bit, This means that the distributor (cam driven on 16V?, 
intermediate shaft driven on 8V) rotates as the belt is tightened.  This 
changes your timing. 

Unless you happen to get the exact same stretch, which is doubtful, you 
will have changed your timing. And remember that a new belt can feel 
stiffer than an old one, so just feeling the tension can be misleading. 

Get a timing light, with advance if you wanna play around with timing, 
without if you just wanna keep stock timing. $65 w/ advance, $25 
without. Well worth it.

HTH

Jonas
85 Scirocco





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