Cam Belt Change Write-Up

[John_W]

Wot Muley said in the last two posts.

The spline socket is no more than an ordinary socket - just make sure it's the 12-apex variety rather than the six-sided type.
I used tippex to mark the pulleys and belts. You'd be surprised how easy it is to get the alignment wrong when there's no tension in the belt.
John

PS: yes, Geoff, I know I haven't done the Wiki write-up yet.

[discovery]

Removed Crankshaft pulley bolt using homemade pulley holding tool , design similar to one shown on here. 2 hours to make tool , 2 hours to remove bolt . 4 hours spent undoing other bolts/brackets ,i am changing all belts while i am at it. Can not get power steering pump out of way however i try , started to remove "those "3 bolts holding engine mount to bracket ,what a b*@~"$d.

[muley]

I still don't think there's a need to remove those 3 bolts - if you remove the 4 socket screws, the 1 bolt that you use for the crank pulley holder and the long engine mount bolt that runs fore and aft the whole mount comes out in 1 piece. Well. it did for me..


Jim

[John_W]

I still don't think there's a need to remove those 3 bolts - if you remove the 4 socket screws, the 1 bolt that you use for the crank pulley holder and the long engine mount bolt that runs fore and aft the whole mount comes out in 1 piece. Well. it did for me..
Jim

I'm pretty sure the mount should be able to come out without undoing those 3 bolts providing you've removed the power steering fluid pipe which keeps getting in the way. This is the metal pipe from the fluid reservoir to the pump, and runs across in front of the cam sprocket cover (ie between the engine and the RHS front wing). Removing that pipe will also make it much easier to remove and replace the black plastic cam sprocket cover.

If you have already removed these bolts, you'll have fun replacing them.

John

[muley]

As it happens I did not need to remove the PAS pipe. I undid the bolts holding the PAS pump in place, took off the rubber pipe clip and eased the pump forwards and to the side then moved the pipe outwards towards the wheel. With a bit iof finagling the mount came out - with both pieces still bolted together. Like I said, I'll be doing this again Monday - if there's any change to this process I'll let you know

Jim

[dapinky]

Jim,

I did it the easier way (yeah, right!)

If you remove the PAS fluid reservoir and the pipe to the pump, then the pump will drop free (and out of the bottom of the engine bay if you undo the single electric connector).

It makes a bit of a mess as it is difficult to completely empty the reservoir with a turkey baster, but it makes access to everything a lot easier.

Specifically, removing/replacing the altenator belt is a hell of a lot easier as you can get to all the bolts!

All in all, i think the total time spent is the same either way, but for ease of access i find it far less stressful to get stuff out of the way as much as possible.

[Exbury]

Sorry, I have been out the loop for a long time and am just starting to get the time to give back to the Elan. Unfortunately I got the water pump on the group buy and apparently the holes are fractionally mis-aligned and they cannot get the pump on. Anyone else had this problem, the rest of the kit seemed to fit perfectly. Guess I will have to track down a water pump pronto!

Jason

[muley]

Jim,

I did it the easier way (yeah, right!)

If you remove the PAS fluid reservoir and the pipe to the pump, then the pump will drop free (and out of the bottom of the engine bay if you undo the single electric connector).

It makes a bit of a mess as it is difficult to completely empty the reservoir with a turkey baster, but it makes access to everything a lot easier.

Specifically, removing/replacing the altenator belt is a hell of a lot easier as you can get to all the bolts!

All in all, i think the total time spent is the same either way, but for ease of access i find it far less stressful to get stuff out of the way as much as possible.

In my case I just took the low pressure pipe off at the pump end and got the fluid out that way. Not much mess at all.

Jim

[dapinky]

In my case I just took the low pressure pipe off at the pump end and got the fluid out that way. Not much mess at all.

Jim

I've done this 3 times now (1 HG, 1 Altenator, 1 Engine swap) and never thought about emptying the system that way

Why do i keep doing things the difficult way????

[muley]

I still don't think there's a need to remove those 3 bolts - if you remove the 4 socket screws, the 1 bolt that you use for the crank pulley holder and the long engine mount bolt that runs fore and aft the whole mount comes out in 1 piece. Well. it did for me..


Jim

* * update * *

Well, I am part way in to the cambelt change on the S2 and, guess what? - I can't get the engine mount out - not enough clearance on this car.

I'll probably manage if I take the oil cooler pipe out of the way, though. The 3 bolts won't budge with the mount flopping around between the cambelt cover and the chassis rail.

Another point; the crank pulley holder for the other car was way out for this one, so I had to fabricate another one.

Bye for now

Jim

[ksgrimsr]

I just changed my cam belt today (I'm a new owner so this was a nice way to break the ice with my car). Although my car only has 24K miles on it, the belts are all original, and since the belts are supposed to be changed 30K OR 5 years (whichever comes first!) I thought I was way overdue on this.

Anyway, I cheked out the service manual as well as the helpful writeups on this forum, and for me it was simpler than the forum dialog implies (I have a US car, so I'm not sure if that makes a difference).

First, removing the pulley nut was the simplest part of the procedure (I had feared it would be a problem based on some of the writeups). I put a 1/2" impact gun with a 17" socket on that sucker and pulled the trigger. For the money you're saving changing the belt yourself, treat yourself to a compressor and an impact gun -- it comes in handy for all kinds of stubborn nut jobs.

Loosening the power steering fluid reservoir so I could push it out of the way to get at the tension bolt for the alternator was a good tip that made things a little easier (I think the writeup on the Wiki glosses over that part).

I read here about removing the PAS pump and feedline that runs across the belt cover, but I didn't find that to be a problem at all and I'm glad I didn't go to the trouble to tearing that apart. After removing the 4 bolts holding the enginge mounting bracket to the engine I got good access to the 3 bolts holding the engine mount to the chassis (having the engine bracket loose helped in gaining access to the frontmost bolt of the chassis mount) and after lifting the chassis bracket out, the engine bracket slipped out just fine. If I knew how to fool the headlight into staying up without the lights on, then the access to the front bolt of the chassis mount probably would have been easier since the linkage was slightly in the way.

After pulling the chassis mount away, the engine mount (both pieces connected together with the 3 bolts) slipped out just fine giving adequate access to the belt cover bolts. The top cambelt cover needed a little coaxing to come out past the hardline at the PAS pump, but not too bad.

Now for my question. I just fininshed the job and fired it up and I have a bit of belt wizzing sound. I suspect that this is just a new-belt artifact, but I'd like to confirm that this is normal until the new belt gets run-in a little. Also, does a new belt need to be re-tensioned/checked after a run-in period?

Knut

[LO 2 US]

I would appreciate any feedback ASAP ..... Just checking ON CAM-BELT TENSION & having seen lots of comments on CAM-BELT NOISE ISSUES... as I am doing the latter stages of the Cam-belt change (yup changed all components).

(Thanks to everyone who has historically posted "how they did it" Cambelt write ups).

I have noticed some write ups mentioning "setting the cam-belt tension" at TDC (??) and others saying set this at 60 degrees ATDC.... (this latter is as per the Lotus Manual) ... as the two processes will give VERY different ACTUAL Belt Tensions ... I thought I would check with LEC.

I have also noticed references to noisy cambelts after swaps. Similarly noticed that the Elan Manual actually tells you to FIT the pre-tension spring by turning the Tensioner ANTI-clockwise (to initially tension it)... which as some have noticed is wrong... so given slight suspicions about the Technical Authors who wrote the Lotus Manual!! ... just thought I would check the following:

I have set cam belt tension @ 7-7.5mm (under 10kg) deflection @ 60degrees ATDC..... this then after two complete settling rotations gives about 10.5mm belt deflection at TDC..... given that some write up's on here refer to people setting the belt deflection at TDC.... this latter process would give a corresponding VERY tight belt at 60 degree's ATDC!!.... I would think that this might be the set-up cause of noisy cam-belts??

Also is my 7-7.5mm at 60 degrees ATDC and thus 10.5mm @ TDC sounding good / and like others have set-up??

(Its also interesting that the OLD Lotus Ford Twink was set up on chain tension at 1/2"...12.7mm!

[Simon_P]

Lo 2

The manual is explicit.

The 7 vs 10.5 is new vs old belt - Not sure why you want to measure at TDC? There is no tension figure for TDC, it is merely a reference so that you know where 60 degrees is.

Too tight or loose is down to the bloke doing the job - You get to find out how good you are when it is all back together.

My manual says 7 - 8.5 mm - from experience it is much easier to get it too tight so I would go for 8mm

[LO 2 US]

Thanks Simon....