AlongCamePeter

yup, i bought the car solely for the purpose of learning, so im willing to break the entire thing, but im hoping i wont.

also, one question. im removing the fan clutch right now (4x10mm). those things are on tight, and when i put enough torque on it, the entire clutch rotates. any tips on keeping the thing still while i loosen the nuts?

bardabe

the way I did it I removed the radiator adn the Intake hoses one on each side. I got my brother to hold it in place. I put some WD-40 and with the 10mm socket they came out with enough torque on them.

AlongCamePeter

i just want to make sure.

the alternator pully is all the way at the bottom of the engine, infront of the passenger side to the left. and power steering is just above it. am i right?

bardabe

I think ure right ask 91tt

91zxtt

Yep, and the AC compressor is at the bottom on the driver's side. The fan clutch nuts shouldn't be that tight. You can try squeazing the 2 sides of the belt together between the water pump and the alternator. That'll tighten it up on the water pump pulley; which should allow you to get the nuts off of the fan clutch. The fan is probably really brittle, so be careful with it. I have my old one, so if you break it, let me know. Mine's pretty beat up, but it still works. Another possibility would be to remove the fan, then the fan clutch. There are 4 or 5, 10mm bolts that hold the fan on. You could remove the fan, then that would allow you to grip it a bit better. Have you purchased the entire kit inculding the timing belt, belt tensioner, water pump, cam seals, crank seal, crank sprocket, crank spacer, bypass hoses and the tube of silicone?

This is a difficult job. If you are 1 tooth off on the belt, then you'll need to take it all apart and do it over. If you look on the timing belt, you will see 5 white lines. You need to line all of these up with the marks on the cam sprockets and the crank sprockets, as well as the marks on the engine plate. I'll take some pictures of the various timing marks since I have mine all apart now.

AlongCamePeter

great, that would be really helpful. The fancluth was actually pretty easy with some wd-40.

right now im at the point where i have to remove the crank pully bolt. seems difficult according to the instructions. im going to use the "wrap" technique and see how that goes. if its still on to tight, gives me a great reason to go purchase an air compressor! (im soon going to teach myself how to paint a car, so i'll need an air compressor than anyways).

thanks for all your help, off to sears to get a few tools.

91zxtt

You should be able to get the crank pulley bolt off if you have the car in gear with someone stepping on the brake pedal. That'll keep the car from wanting to roll forward when you start to pull on the ratchet. You will need a breaker bar. If you don't have one, then find a 2-3 foot lead pipe you can slide over the handle of the ratchet. That'll give you a lot more leverage and the crank bolt should come right out.

Before you go out and buy an air compressor and impact gun, remember how much room you have to work with. It gets a little tight down there even with the radiator removed. You won't be able to get an impact gun in there without a swivel socket. Make sure you get an impact swivel socket if you do; otherwise you may break it. The breaker bar/lead pipe is a much less expensive idea.

CanyonCarver

I usually get a socket on the bolt, extend the handle of a breaker bar, with a pipe, long enough to reach a very solid point on the chassis and then click the starter. You have to make sure that it is resting in the right direction, relative to engine rotation, so that the wrench doesn't fly around and damage something

Riz Z Speed

That sounds like a good way to damage something or get hurt. I wouldn't recommend doing it that way CC.

AlongCamePeter

that will only work with a manual tranny right? i have an automatic. heres a quote off automotiveforums that i found:

"An automatic transmission allows the engine to spin freely when it is in park, so the brakes won't affect anything. If you don't believe me, get in a friend's car w/ auto and start it up with the tranny in park... The engine spins around and around and around no matter what you do with the brakes.

In fact, with most automatic transmissions, it doesn't matter what you do with the shift selector, if the engine isn't running, it can spin freely. This is the reason that you can't push-start a car with an automatic transmission." - http://www.automotiveforums.com/t58070.html

91zxtt

Hmmm. Never thought about it, but it makes sense. I'm guessing it has to do with the torque converter. Automatic trannies are a bit of a mystery to me. What you were told may be correct. You can try it out tho. Put the car in D and see what happens.

So, did you buy a compressor and an impact gun? I do know that'll work. What I was saying about the impact gun not fitting may not apply here. The impact gun I have is quite old and very large. The newer ones are smaller and may fit in there. If it doesn't fit, then head back out to Sears and buy a swivel socket. That's what we used the 1st time I had to remove the crank pulley.

AlongCamePeter

not quite yet, i just went to check them out. thought i'd try to do what i can to get the bolt loose before purchasing an air impact wrench and air compressor, it seems like i'll be getting one either tonight or tommorow morning however.

with the air impact wrench, i wont have to worry about locking the crank? it'll just remove the bolt on its own?

CanyonCarver

I've been doing it that way for years, never had any problems. Until a coupla weeks ago that is....... ha ha ....... the stupid motor on my kids' civic spins in the opposite direction, so that trick only tightens the bolt :doh:

and ...... with my compressor maxed out at 135 psi, I have not yet been able to get a crank pulley bolt loose with my impact wrench. Maybe my z will be the first. Keep in mind that 99.9% of the time those bolts are installed with loc-tite.

91zxtt

Locking the crank?!? Never heard of it. If your asking if you can damage anything by using an impact gun, then no. At least no more than compared to if you use a breaker bar.


CC----may be time for a bigger impact gun. :burnout:

91zxtt

Here are a few pics. Basically, you play connect the dots. On the timing belt you should see 5 lines. There's a dot on each intake cam sprocket and a notch on each exhaust cam sprocket. The intake cams are the inside 2, the exhaust cams are the outside 2. The crank sprocket has a small dimple on it. It can be a little difficult to see sometimes. You want to line it up with the notch on the timing belt's lower guard. With the timing belt still installed, you want to turn the motor over by hand (Use a ratchet. It should be easy) until these 5 timing marks are lined up. You will not be able to see the marks on the old timing belt. Now you can remove the timing belt. When you're installing the new timing belt, the tooth of the belt that has the line on the backside will go in the grooves that come closest to connecting the dots (dimples on the motor plate and notch in the guard. You will use the line on the belt to 'connect the dots' again.

If you are changing the cam seals, then be careful when you are removing the cam sprockets. They have a tendency to want to spin. If this happens, depending on where the pistons are in the combustion chamber, you could hit the top of one of the pistons with a valve. This could cause a valve to bend; which would mean you get to take off the head and get a valve job done. If you're not changing the cam seal, then you don't really have to worry about this, unless you take some smart pills and try to turn the sprockets by hand (Don't do it!!).

This link should help. It helped me.
http://zhome.com/ZCMnL/PICS/timingBelt/timingBelt.html

Let me know if you come across any problems.

AlongCamePeter

by locking i mean keeping the crank still while using the impact wrench to remove the bolt, or will it rotate along with the bolt.

i just went to a car meet and a guy told me i shouldn't have to worry about the crank rotating with an air impact wrench, it'll remove it without any worries. =) so that answered my question.

91zxtt

Oh. What you were told is correct. That's why impact guns are so nice. They come in real handy removing lug nuts also.

AlongCamePeter

um, got a $300 craftsman air compressor and a $200 craftsman air impact wrench. used blaster penetrating lubricant. crank bolt still won't come off. =( im going to try to remove the starter motor and jamming the gear or whatevers with a screwdriver to keep the crank still. but in the mean time, can anyone please explain to me in more detail the "belt wrapping technique" explained in ttz of dallas's webpage. its very vague. thanks.

91zxtt

Basically you wrap the belt around the crank sprocket and hold on. It's probably best to have a friend help. Have your friend pull against the belt that wrapped around the crank sprocket while you use the impact gun. You're using the belt to hold the crank in place instead of trying to use anything else.

bardabe

Ehh could be worst I just got My parts for my car. 2 water bypass hoses 4 hose clamps the 3 drive belts and a tube of sylicone gasket. mymechanic should comey either tomorrow or thursday to replace all the stuff. and my car should be up and sunning again yeay!!!! :dancing:

91zxtt

What about the rest of the stuff....timing belt, tensioner, water pump, t-stat, idler pullies? I hope you have those also; otherwise, you're wasting your time.

bardabe

well I'm doing this just to get the car runnig. It should be running fine The timing belt looks in a real good condition. I'll replace the thermostatand put some of tehat silicone gasket from courtesy nissan on teh water pump. and the motor should last me a good year liek that till I am able to get those 4 Grand or so that I need for My TT Convertion :bling:

91zxtt

Ugh. :doh:

Please see my signature....."If you don't have time to do it right, then when will you have time to do it over?"

Ever heard of Murphy's Law? Anything that can happen, will happen. That law always applies to automobiles. At least replace the timing belt, t-stat and the tensioner. You can probably get away without replacing the idler pulleys. You're putting all of this time into it that it would be a shame if you got it back together and then you'd had to take it back apart in 3 months to fix something you could change right now. Save yourself the duplicate labor and headaches.

bardabe

Hmm Ure right but I'm too broke now. I've got's 95 centes in my account so the belt and **** will have to wait @least 3 months. I'f I could I'd do the full 120 service, as soon as I am able to save Up 3 - 4 hundred bucks I'll do the full thing. w/o the belts; but everithing else Timing, pulleys, O rings, seals, sproket ext. hopefulyl U'll be able to help me by then buddy beer's on me lunch 2!