• Welcome to the Contour Enthusiasts Group, the best resource for the Ford Contour and Mercury Mystique.

    You can register to join the community.

Mmmmm timing belt...

Yeah...at least my car still drives. :laugh:

If I keep the RPM above 2250, then the chattering goes away, LMAO!

Oh well, it'll be fixed in a couple days. No worries.
 
Well, it's an old Stage 1 with 54,000 on it. I'd say that's pretty good life for a 200+ WHP 3L that had nitrous at one point. It seems that the problems are all with the newer SPEC clutches.
 
Oh mine drives, I just refuse to ever let the clutch out in neutral because I hate the noise.

haha I had these idiots at a light ask me how my diesel engine turned off. I pulled the clutch back out and in again and they were like whaaaa?

zorrex if you have to keep the rpm up, what do you do at a stop light?
 
Last edited:
Well, I try to avoid stoplights...If I see a red ahead, I'll downshift into 2 or 1 and cruise at ~2500RPM or so. If I have to stop for a longer period of time, I'll shut the engine off. I REALLY don't want that chattering sound to be happening at ALL. The timing belt is flapping up and down really bad as you can see in the video. I'm guessing one of the pulleys ???? the bed, and only works properly at higher RPM, because it will want to spin around it's geometric/inertial center, making it work "correct" at these higher RPM, but that is only a guess, and won't know for sure until we tear into it Tuesday. Hoping to make quick work of the timing belt swap. Just overnighted a Gates kit. The kit is so cheap now, I didn't even bat an eye at the $50 overnight shipping charge. :laugh:
 
Well, I try to avoid stoplights...If I see a red ahead, I'll downshift into 2 or 1 and cruise at ~2500RPM or so. If I have to stop for a longer period of time, I'll shut the engine off. I REALLY don't want that chattering sound to be happening at ALL. The timing belt is flapping up and down really bad as you can see in the video. I'm guessing one of the pulleys ???? the bed, and only works properly at higher RPM, because it will want to spin around it's geometric/inertial center, making it work "correct" at these higher RPM, but that is only a guess, and won't know for sure until we tear into it Tuesday. Hoping to make quick work of the timing belt swap. Just overnighted a Gates kit. The kit is so cheap now, I didn't even bat an eye at the $50 overnight shipping charge. :laugh:

the gates kit is a good kit but MAKE SURE you follow the directions TO EVERY STEP, I had a nightmare doing a timing belt in my zetec car because I skipped the step of loosening the cam gears to slide the belt on, the belt walked off and destroyed itself and I had to do it all over again.

And the reason your belt is chattering is because the tensioner is about to fail, happened to me on my 96, it started chattering one day, drove it to my friends house and back, snapped in my driveway when I got back.
 
the gates kit is a good kit but MAKE SURE you follow the directions TO EVERY STEP, I had a nightmare doing a timing belt in my zetec car because I skipped the step of loosening the cam gears to slide the belt on, the belt walked off and destroyed itself and I had to do it all over again.

And the reason your belt is chattering is because the tensioner is about to fail, happened to me on my 96, it started chattering one day, drove it to my friends house and back, snapped in my driveway when I got back.


you don't need to loosen the cam gears in a pre98. you only do that because of the VCT the post 98 has ....
 
the gates kit is a good kit but MAKE SURE you follow the directions TO EVERY STEP, I had a nightmare doing a timing belt in my zetec car because I skipped the step of loosening the cam gears to slide the belt on, the belt walked off and destroyed itself and I had to do it all over again.

And the reason your belt is chattering is because the tensioner is about to fail, happened to me on my 96, it started chattering one day, drove it to my friends house and back, snapped in my driveway when I got back.

Don't worry, I know how to change a pre98 timing belt, as does aircougar. As long as everything goes smoothly and I provide good help, it will only take 40 minutes or so.
 
Get the Ford timing kit. The Gates is okay but I found that the tensioner supplied was a POS. OEM is definitely the way to go.
 
Too late. I already overnighted the Gates kit. :laugh:

Besides, replacing the timing belt is so easy that it really doesn't even matter. This will last me a few more years at the least. :shrug:
 
To be honest, Iam; I prefer Dayco belts over the Gates products. While Dayco doesn't make a timing kit for the Ford Zetec, I'd piece it all together with Dayco Poly Cog/ Top Cog parts for an overall better system. But I still wouldn't call Gates a bad product, so w/e.:shrug:
 
Back
Top