Fatty Matty

It's time for a timing belt change. I called about 20 local shops. about 8 said they wouldn't touch it, then the other 12 gave me quotes of $500 to $1200. Most seemed to be quoting labor out of the book, saying it was a 9 hour job. I decided to do it myself.

I only worked on it for 2 hours last night, and managed to get all of the belts off and the coolant drained out. At the rate I'm going, I'm thinking 6 or 7 hours, and I've never done this before.

vernk

yea they take a bit of time and thats just getting to it and putting it back together I don't remember how long it took me to do it on my 87 SE but it was a day project. it wouldn't be a bad idea to put a new water pump in while your that far into it unless you know that it's been done recently

Fatty Matty

I'm changing everything out. All 3 seals, water pump, tensioner and all of the belts. I can maybe see 9 hours for somebody that has never done it before and has a hard time reading a manual. There's absolutely no way it should take a mechanic 9 hours. Not even 7.

The car sat for 7+ years. That's the main reason for changing everything out.

tonyw

It's not that hard, just time consuming. Make sure you keep track of where everything went. You''ll need to take off the R/F wheel to get to the crank pulley. Use an impact gun to get the bolt off. Once it's off, you can gently tap around the edges of the crank pulley to get it off. You don't need a puller.

While you're at it and the radiator is empty, maybe you should take a look at the hoses and replace any suspect ones.

Big_E-Dog

iTrader: (14)

its not that hard i can do it in 3 hours, but youll need to take the crank pulley off its like a 24mm bolt you can get it off with a torque wrench and you gotta jam up the flywheel with a really big screwdriver, and its like 8-10 8mm bolts to get the cover off, oooh and you gotta take off the waterpump pulley as well 4 10mm bolts then have at it, makeshure the marks on the crank and the cms aligh with the marks on the oil pump and the timing cover back plate then your good to go...

Fatty Matty

is top dead center achieved by lining up the crank/oil pump marks? It seems like using the distributor method isn't that accurate.

Matt93SE

iTrader: (44)

You need to line up the crank to the TDC marks on the crank pulley and gear to the marks on the front cover. There are more marks on the cam gears and timing belt cover to line up each of the cams.

only after all that's done should you worry about lining up the distributor according to the manul. the distributor only worries about ignition timing, and the car just won't start if you get that wrong. if you get cam timing wrong, you'll bend valves and damage the heads, costing hundreds or thousands to repair.

(it's all in the FSM. read the timing belt section and you'll understand more.)

alllw86

It's not that hard to replace the T-belt. I just had to do that on my 86se due to a bad tensioner. This one was the original with 140k on it. T-belt was replaced 45k ago. Guess I should have replaced it before . Do make sure you set the engine at TDC before removing the old T-Belt . Sounds like your replacing most of what you can now so I would only add to replace the thermostat and water pump too.

To adjust the tensioner the Factory Service Manual reads to loosen all the Rocker Shaft securing bolts. Another book reads to place a drill bit between the T-belt and tensioner to adjust it. I went the easy route.

Do take your time and do it right the first time. Where are you getting your parts from? $500 minimum do seems to be the same quote I got years ago. Ever price a clutch replacement....$500 min to start.

I got some other problems with my 86se so will start a new thread.

Al

AzureblueZ

I am in the middle of my second VG timing belt job right now on my 94 Maxima. I know it's third gen but it's exactly the same.

In regards to the tensioner, a cool trick a guru once taught me is the two nuts on the tensioner should form a clock position of "11:20". You'll know what I mean when you are looking at the installed tensioner. If you are within ten minutes (lol) of 11:20 your tensioner is in the right spot. The idea of the tensioner is, if it is properly installed, you can release it with the belt installed and it will tension the belt for you.

A final trick to make sure that you have set the proper timing belt tension from an old guru:

"Now you can tension the belt. Do this by grabbing the belt between the cam gears and twisting it either CCW or CW along the belt’s plane.. if you can twist the belt 90 degrees to vertical then it is tensioned properly. Anymore and it’s too loose, not enough and it’s too tight.. lock down the tensioner and spin it again and verify that it is still tensioned properly between the gears using the same method."

This works, I can vouch for that fact

Fatty Matty

I finished it up last night. It really wasn't that hard, just one of those things where you wish you had small hands. 8 hours, and that included screwing around, misplacing tools, bolts, drinking beer and smoking while I was doing it. If I were to do it again, I'd say around 5 hours. An hour of that was screwing around with the water pump and t-stat.

It was the original belt, so it was 20 years old with almost 68k on it. It was stretched out pretty good, I was surprised it didn't jump at some point.

I was happy enough saving $600+. But, I see why they get good money to do it.

Big_E-Dog

iTrader: (14)

i said the same thing when i did it the first time

YOOFORMULA

is there a pic site that shows the steps for tbelt change?

dtm88na

iTrader: (1)

Here's a few timing belt write-ups for the VG30 in the z31 300zx. Same exact motor, different layout. Same idea, just keep in mind that orientation is a little different. First link has good pictures, second no pictures.

http://web.archive.org/web/200603201...eplacement.htm

http://z31.com/repairs/tbelt.shtml

Fatty Matty

There's more than a few out there. I remember finding a few just using google.

A good manual will take you most of the way. i read up on it for quite a while before doing it, and printing out everything that seemed relevant.

A few things to remember.

1. If it's an auto, you'll have to take off the starter to keep the crankshaft from moving.

2. It is not necessary to remove the spark plugs.

3. Get a pulley puller. They're cheap, and you'll probably need it. You will need a torque wrench.

4. There's a reference in this thread to setting the tension on the belt. It's the best advice I'd found, and probably the most important.

5. Change the water pump and t-stat while in there. Lots of coolant is going to come out when you pull the pump. Keep a shop-vac handy. Change the crank and cam seals too, along with the tensioner and all the belts. Do it one time and be done with it.

6. Keep your work area clean. I wasted at least an hour looking for misplaced tools and bolts, mostly due to being buzzed up.

AzureblueZ

I will warn you: I had such a horrible time with removing the timing gear that sits in front of the crank seal that (after trying many methods, I had to cut it off with an air tool, total time ~20 hours) that I have vowed to never replace a crank seal again on a VG30 unless it is leaking. I don't ever want to go through that again unless I have to!

AzureblueZ

I finished my timing belt job by the way. It worked out great!! Put almost 500 miles on her since and she is running like a champ. Did timing belt and tensioner. Tensioner was in horrible shape...thank God I replaced it!!

KRRZ350

iTrader: (29)

Tip for removing crank pullies..........

This worked even on a tundra that was on so tight a 420 ft/lb impact gun wouldn't touch it, it required me jumping up and down on a 5+ foot section of pipe and also bent the most heavy duty thick *** craftsman 1/2" 'round style' breaker bar, .....

Take the belt, loop it arount the pulley until it is touching, (almost 360*) than stuff one side of the belt under the other and wrap the two sections togethor clockwise around the crank pulley a few times until it is short enough to slip the left-over loop onto a nearby stud or pulley etc, but you must keep tension on it the entire time, it will make more sense when you're doing it, but yeah, just use the belt, it works so good and can hold like 1,000 ft/lb's if you do it right!!

redlobster

iTrader: (3)

sounds about right

Fatty Matty

It was actually close to 9 hours. Mostly drinking beer, misplacing tools, scratching my head and looking at manuals.

I could do this next time in about 4 or 5 hours. For everything.

I've bought most of my vehicles new, so when I service them everything is done right. This thing was 20 years old, barely serviced from what I could tell, due to the low mileage. First foreign vehicle I've really dove into all the way. As in beyond the tune-up.

Different to work on, for sure.

Fatty Matty

The most satisfying part of the whole job is NOT paying somebody else to do it. It's definitely not a fun job at all.

Niku-Sama

iTrader: (1)

it took me several evenings to replace the water pump at an hour a night but i also had a ****ty place to work on it.

the shop i took it to quoted me $250 for a belt and waterpump change so i donno. the only reason i took it smoe place was because i didnt have time and i was planning on doing a pump and belt but it wound up being 8 valves and minor head work and $2000 because the teeth came off the belt a week before my appointment

Fatty Matty

Damn, $250 is cheap. Even if that $250 is labor only. I think if it came down to it, I'd pay the $250 next time, instead of wasting that time in the garage. This thing is going to get over 20k a year put on it, so next time I'm not going to bother with the seals.

Mine had 66k on it when I changed it, plus that belt was 20 years old. I didn't even drive it for almost 2 weeks before I changed it. I left for work one morning and it didn't quite run or sound right, so I went right back and parked it in the garage until I could fix it. It was LOOSE when I got to it, and I'm almost positive it jumped a tooth on one of the cams. I really should've changed it when I got it last spring. I think that If i wouldn't have parked it when I did, it would have went.

I tried to explain all of that to my wife. It was like trying to explain nuclear fission to a 3 year old.

countzero

I recently started hearing a strange howling/rattling sound from under the timing belt cover on my daughter's '87. Has 140K+ miles and no known history of timing belt replacement. I contemplated doing the belt myself but with sh*tty weather and no garage I just had it done by my local shop. They said the tensioner was shot...lucky we didn't push it any longer.

Total bill for timing belt, tensioner, water pump and the other 3 belts was just under $800. Not too bad I guess.

Big_E-Dog

iTrader: (14)

ouch i would of done it my self.. and saved 700 dlls in labor.....

countzero

eh....er....Big_E-Dog, did you miss the "no garage" part? Maybe you don't get sub-freezing *high* temps with ice & snow there in SoCal but that's what we were having here at the time. Yuck. In this case it /was/ worth $700 to me not to have to do it myself....

Fatty Matty

You won't catch me working on a car in the winter. I would've paid the 800 also

ColombianMax

iTrader: (7)

Ah yes the good ol VG timing belt. My gfs dad and I did my gfs 89 SE's timing belt, water pump, drive belts, crank and cam seals back in in summer...took us two damn days cuz we couldn't get one of the "pulley's" [with teeth] off to change either the cam or crank seal dont remember which.. everything else went smooth and quickly.

Big_E-Dog

iTrader: (14)

so its a lil snow get a coat and some flavored syurp and have sno cones while you do it.

ColombianMax

iTrader: (7)

As a matter a fact and I kid you not, I went through a box of chocolate/vanilla ice cream sandwiches during this job MMMM MMMM

Big_E-Dog

iTrader: (14)

hahaha if you eat enough youll not worry about the cold because your body will be the same temp

ColombianMax

iTrader: (7)

dude it was like 45-55 degrees and I'm sitting there eating efffing ice cream lol good times

Fatty Matty

It was -2 this morning when when I was driving to work. I won't do anything with a car when it's that cold, except for putting gas in it. If something were to break, it would be sitting in the garage until I turned the heat on out there, or it actually warmed up outside.

zcarmaniac

Make sure that you change the cam seals,also.You'll regret not doing that.

sporty98

Can anyone describe for me the alignment marks on the back timing belt cover that are supposed to align with the marks on the cam gears? I see a couple of painted-on marks that i think are from a previous installer, but they look to be in a different location that those shown in the Haynes manual. I "think" that i see a very small dimple about 1/2" or so inboard from the bolt hole where the outer cover attaches. What does the factory mark look like? Thanks.

Edge

I don't know if my post is too late to you help out. IIRC they are dimples to the inside of the top most bolt hole on the cover and they align with the cam marks. http://www.xenonz31.com/Images/Timin...ng-marks-2.jpg . I consider these dimples as a reference mark only, since they are mounted on the cover, not mounted to the engine block and difficult to see/align. The Nissan OEM belt has alignment marks for the crank and the two cams, which is the best way to do the cam timing outside of using a degree wheel. Make sure you are at TDC at the compression stroke on cylinder #1 by using the distributor #1 TDC alignment mark, which is a metal tab in the distrib plate. The rotor be 7.5 deg to the left (IIRC) of mark due to the ignition timing advance of 15 crankshaft deg (7.5 cam deg).

zcarmaniac

Not really that complicated with a book.I've done a few,but it is time consuming.