Wow. I'm still taking parts of the front and can't get the timing belt cover off.



So do I need to take the aux shaft (I think that's the piece near the main engine crankshaft) off as well? Or maybe the main crankshaft pulley? What a pain. I'm thinking about leaving it off afterwards. Anybody had any bad experience with leaving the cover off?

all that shielding only came on the late model cars. Many of us modify or leave them off.

to get the lower metal shield off you wil have to remove the crankshaft pulley. please remember to put back the 10mm bolts that you take out of the front seal plate after you remove the cover. if not oil will leak from the holes mahcined into the block

azruss wrote:all that shielding only came on the late model cars. Many of us modify or leave them off.

When I removed a number of the pieces of the cover there was a lot of crud in there. Grease, dirt, a few pine needles... I really like the look without the cover. A lot cleaner. I also think it might be prone to rattling, etc...

Timing belt cover and all pulleys off now. With a 24" breaker bar ($9.50 at CdnTire on sale!), the right socket (I used 1-1/2") and a chain wrench/vise grip it came off without much trouble. The aux pulley actually took more effort. Now to degrease the engine and clean/paint components. I was thinking about sanding/painting the pulleys maybe a silver or black color. Any ideas on what type of paint to use and if the actual cogs on the pulley should be painted as well? I was just worried that it might make it more slippery for the timing belt.

I wouldn't paint the cogs/gears. Clean with brake cleaner and scrub with a fine engine scrub brush and then tape off if you are going to paint the rest of the wheels.

BEEK wrote:to get the lower metal shield off you wil have to remove the crankshaft pulley. please remember to put back the 10mm bolts that you take out of the front seal plate after you remove the cover. if not oil will leak from the holes mahcined into the block

Decided to leave the rear plates of the timing belt cover off and will only re-install front cover. Found the 10mm bolts, one right near the crankshaft seal (just above) and another fairly close as well. The 10mm bolts fit fine but I noticed that one of the holes went much deeper than the other but both 10mm bolts were the same lengths. Holds tight though and I can't find any other 10mm bolt holes in this part of the engine. So must be it. I really have to learn to label all the bolts I remove!

Next up... Torque everything right, reinstall timing belt, reinstall rad and new piping and get this baby running. I assume I have to reinstall rad before 1st startup? Kind of wanted to ensure everything moves well and is aligned when running before reinstalling rad. This would also allow me to check for leaks more easily. Is this possible?

Moved to a new topic...

Timing belt back on. Everything seems aligned and I manually cranked the engine around twice with no issues.

Intake cam...


Exhaust cam (bad camera angle but it aligns fine from straight on)...


Crank pulley...


Aux pulley...




Anyone see anything wrong? Belt is tight after tensioner released.

Going to ensure everything torqued, re-install rad and start her up...

I am looking at your last photo here and it looks like that white covered wire going from the distributor to the coil is hanging a bit close to the exhaust. Make sure to keep that away from the header.