I had the timing belt / cambelt and balance belt replaced when I first bought the Evo. My mate Jon, a mechanic, did it for me as I really hate doing them and at the time I didn’t have the garage facilities I have now. Well I’ve had the Evo quite a while now and while it hasn’t done the mileage to need new belts it is due a replacement due to age. I could have got Jon to do it again as it’s still not my favorite job but there is really no good reason why I shouldn’t just do it myself as I now have the right setup to make it less of a chore.
Having had a read about the job and having got the new parts in front of me, clearly a special tool was going to be required to adjust the pretension of the timing belt. I couldn’t easily find a tool with the correct pin spacing to fit the tensioner pulley so I just bought a cheap one meant for VAG cars for less than 10 quid and modified it.
The VAG tool with pin spacing too wide for the Evo tensioner pulley.
One pin removed
Bit of card used to punch holes through into the Evo pulley making a template to carry over to the tool.
Required position of new hole marked.
Hole drilled and pin refitted. Easy!
Better get on with the actual job then.
This is the guide I worked from: www.vfaq.com/mods/timingbelt-2G.html
Both belts, all pulleys and water pump.
Support the engine underneath ready for removal of the engine mount
Expansion tank and engine mount out
Aux belt tension released
Crank rotated to get everything lined up as per the guide
Here’s where I got stuck cos I couldn’t get the water pump pulley bolts undone. I tried refitting the aux belt but it wouldn’t hold the pulley tight enough.
So I had to give up and leave it until a friend could come and help.
So Townie came round and gave me a hand one evening. He used a spanner and the aux belt to make a strap wrench around the pulley while I undone the bolts.
With the water pump pulley off I could carry on. Bottom pulley removed.
Covers off.
Pump semi removed to allow access to tensioner bolt.
Hydraulic tensioner removed. Completely dry inside, no fluid leakage meaning it’s good to re-use.
Piston pushed back in and nail use to hold in position ready for refitting.
Timing belt off now the water pump can come out.
This was a pain but it came out eventually.
Old and new.
Block cleaned and prepared ready for new pump.
New pump on
Balance belt off.
New balance belt on and tensioned. Also checking the position of the front balance shaft pulley.
Timing belt on.
A few rotations to check it’s on right, find out it’s not quite right then redo it…..
All sorted, tensions all correct and timing marks all where they should be.
Everything else back where it came from.
The resulting mess of tools!
New coolant.
Start and drive!
I still kinda hate doing timing belts but the lift makes it much less of a rubbish job.
