xenome

I just did the VTC rebuild in my garage today... and I just wrote up a HUGE list of pointers to help out.. and my browser crashed and I lost the box.

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR ARGH!!

anyways, if anyone gets into this proj. and needs some help.. PM me.

It's REALLY not as bad as it sounds and you can save a crapload of $$$ doing it yourself. You can easily do it in one weekend.

todamax

iTrader: (6)

Did you by the rebuild kit? Or did you replace? I'm doing this in april, and still feel intimidated.

xenome

I rebuilt the sprockets. The kit is such a rip off though, it's only got the spring, a cover, and two gaskets!! all that for $43?!?!? Of course I was dumb and didn't get them from courtesy. Anyways, just mark the sprockets up really well so they can be aligned exactly how they came apart... it shows you this in the TSB. I was able to press them apart with a simple bench vise, i don't think you need the near 1-ton force. Once you press them the top will pop off and you can slide out that internal gear... MAKE SURE YOU MARK THIS REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY well... I used white-out, if it's well marked, it will be cake to redo.. I didn't mark the first one very well so I sat around forever second guessing myself... until I finally got it. The second one though I marked really well and the rebuild of the sprocket took me < 2mins. They are pretty simple for having a complicated application. One other trick that will help you make sure you got them backtogether right is... mark the chain itself while the sprocket is still attached the cam, this way the VTC's gears and chain will have mating marks. If the mating marks you made don't line up when you put the VTC back onto the camshaft, then you know it's not totally aligned... I don't know if this is really a problem, but the TSB says it can cause noise... see, the VTC and camshaft are keyed, so they can only go on with one orientation, but you determin the orientation when you put the VTC sprocket back together... that's why I guess they stress having the VTC sprocket go back together exactly how it came apart.

Hope this helps a bit.

JC93SE

If I had to guess, I would say that there are two reasons to put them back like they were:

1: if you don't get them right, the cam will be out of time... because the cam is keyed to the VTC right?

2: the internal surfaces have worn together for many miles and are "used" to each other in that position. If you change how it goes back together even so that #1 isn't a problem, the surfaces now have to wear-in some again causing slop, and more noise. It's the same reason you don't mix up lifters and cam lobes in a Chevy (or other)... put every thing back the way it was or use new all around or the cam wears down even if it was alrready broken in.

'Course, I'm guessing because I haven't done this yet (but need to)