Mmmmm timing belt...

[zorrex]

So I overnighted the part late Saturday night. I would assume that since I did this, the part would get sent out today, right?

I checked my order and it is still awaiting shipment.

This might not end well for RockAuto, because if I chose ground shipping it'd only take 3 days from the day I ordered, meaning Thursday.

 

[Dyoel182]

RockAuto. Gates kit. $90 for belt, tensioner, 2 idlers.

Thats a great price. I think I paid a touch less than that for a full kit when I did one of my mazdas.

 

[AliasJerk]

Thats a great price. I think I paid a touch less than that for a full kit when I did one of my mazdas.

same one I just ordered for a customer's car that I am doing, pre98 Zetec with an MTX, car has 174K on the original timing belt :shocked: Yeah the gates kit usually is the way to go, I spoke directly with the guys there and with one of the guys that developed the kit for the zetec motor and had him talk to me about installing the belt over the phone, he told me the "crucial step is loosening the cam gears" although we were talking about a 99 motor, not a pre98 motor.

 

[Tex]

So I overnighted the part late Saturday night. I would assume that since I did this, the part would get sent out today, right?

I checked my order and it is still awaiting shipment.

This might not end well for RockAuto, because if I chose ground shipping it'd only take 3 days from the day I ordered, meaning Thursday.

Depending on how it shipped, UPS will pick it up as late as 7:00 and deliver it the next morning. I wouldn't worry.

 

[Frosty]

its part of the instructions for setting the timing on engines with VCT from my understanding. if you don't you will throw the VCT off.

I didn't do it on my 99SE either and it has worked just fine for 20k+. I thought it was kind of silly to do it and didn't see the point. You already have that bar in the end of the cams to hold them, why loosen the cam sprockets? The belt went on just fine, didn't walk off and is still in good shape to this day. The Gates kit was great, no issues at all.

 

[BrApple]

I didn't do it on my 99SE either and it has worked just fine for 20k+. I thought it was kind of silly to do it and didn't see the point. You already have that bar in the end of the cams to hold them, why loosen the cam sprockets? The belt went on just fine, didn't walk off and is still in good shape to this day. The Gates kit was great, no issues at all.

I think it had something to do with having to get the cam gear teeth lined up. not possitive as I haven't changed a timing belt on a post 98 myself. just dug up info to help someone do it, and this is what I read in the posted how to's

 

[zorrex]

Bahahah! Cam alignment tool :laugh:

I think I ruined that idler... :laugh:

Looks as though the idler was seized up. It's all worn away to nothing on one side. :shocked:

 

[contourspd98]

Mine was worse... Alls that was left was the middle circle of the pulley and the bolt into the block.

Hopefully you get it up and running again.. Good luck.

 

[BrApple]

Mine was worse... Alls that was left was the middle circle of the pulley and the bolt into the block.

Hopefully you get it up and running again.. Good luck.

oh its back up and running I am sure by this point. I don't think Ian would have posted pictures if he didn't get home...

 

[KerryKool]

Hey, that looks familiar! Same thing happened to me. But it happened right after Ford "fixed" my timing belt and pulleys. :help:

 

[zorrex]

The other pulley was also about to seize, FWIW. Bearings were grinding like MFers! The tensioner/pulley seemed like it was still in decent shape, however. I'm still unsure whether or not this timing belt and the pulleys were original to the car (113k), but I DO know that the timing marks on the cam gears weren't even close to anything important, lol. They pointed to nowhere :laugh:. We didn't need the marks, just the alignment tool (if that). As long as the crank pulley is on TDC, you pull the belt up around the front cam, lining it up so the cam goes to TDC, then pull it around the other cam (which can be tricky, we weren't sure at first which tooth it should go on), then down around the tensioner.