Today, Tuesday (actually yesterday, as it’s past midnight now!), was a real mofo! Certain steps in this job that seasoned mechanics might do in seconds, took me ages!
I didn’t take so many pictures today. I hope I won’t wind up regretting that? Pictured above is how things looked after a good five or six hours of work. Everything off, ready for new cambelt, and pulleys.
Getting the harmonic damper and the main cam shafts nut off was very tricky and time consuming. Rust had turned the several pieces into a single monolithic block. Much WD40, hammering, and swearing, was required!
Panning out somewhat, so as to see all the gubbins.
Lining up stuff on the windowsill. Some of those plastic bits, that shield the cambelt, etc, need replacing, as they broke (due to bolts that wouldn’t come out!)
A before and after shot; cleaning up fixtures and fittings, prior to gradual re-assembly. And below, the old idler wheel and the new one. Shiny!
And, also below, the other idler, this time avec spring arrangement. For the left (alternator?) side. New pulley and spring; old bolt and spring cover, the latter both cleaned up.
And now three pics zooming in on the new idler/pulley wheels.
And lastly, the two of ‘em, shiny and lovely.
I didn’t photograph loads of this stuff. For example, my three hour plus struggle with the hideous bolt holding the alternator at its junction with the engine block.
Today was a day of much anger, swearing and frustration! it wasn’t just the aforementioned nut that was driving me nuts. The harmonic damper was a real mother to remove. And the camshaft itself?
I thought I was going to lose it! But eventually I prevailed. And in the end the job progressed, albeit much more slowly than hoped for, to past the halfway point, as new parts were added.
The light was starting to fail, after 12 hours more or less solid work. So Teresa held a torch for some of the following photos. Above, the cambelt goes on.
With help from Teresa, we got the damned cambelt installed. I also set the harmonic ding-dong to its intended position.
So, that’s it for this post. A few more pics. But not much to say. A frustrating and very tiring day. Working slowly. Oh so slowly! But getting a bit of DIY style atisfaction
Last of all, in my working duds! And beaming in a grimy way…
