Martin Reynolds Posted February 27, 2014 Report Share Posted February 27, 2014 (edited) . Edited February 27, 2014 by Martin Reynolds Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
george_seamons Posted February 27, 2014 Report Share Posted February 27, 2014 Belt stretch wouldn't affect the timing marks though. I've done loads of cambelts now, and still wince every time I start the car for the first time! My car still remains the worst though, bloody engine mount gets in the way every single time, and you can only get it out by removing half of the engine to begin with! That, and a hydraulic belt tensioner that has to be compressed to reinstall makes it a REAL chore! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pashley26 Posted February 27, 2014 Report Share Posted February 27, 2014 What?! You remove the PAS res, the water res, leave the mount in place and jack the engine up?! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prawny Baby Posted February 27, 2014 Report Share Posted February 27, 2014 engine mount is still the biggest issue on a 1.8T cambelt though jardo. even if left in place. That, and the hydro tensioner which likes to pull it back a tooth when released if you didn't get it tight enough over the water pump. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
george_seamons Posted February 27, 2014 Report Share Posted February 27, 2014 Jardo, don't talk as if you are an expert...you have never done a cambelt on your own. Watching somebody do it doesn't count! The mount IS an issue, even if you remove that lot. The chassis rail gets in the way, no matter how much you jack it up. The tensioner pulling back is something you learn very quickly after having to do the job twice the first time you do it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pashley26 Posted February 27, 2014 Report Share Posted February 27, 2014 (edited) I love how every time I comment on anything mechanical, you all jump on the lack of DIY element to my motoring. To give you a similar example of why I don't bother doing it myself...Your mum's better cook than me. So she makes me dinner. Doesn't mean I can't cook though. I tried to pull the pin on the tensioner like it was a grenade with my teeth, actually the most painful thing I have ever done. And I had to reclamp the tensioner and find the pin and put it back in. Edited February 27, 2014 by Pashley26 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CurtisRider Posted February 27, 2014 Report Share Posted February 27, 2014 I think it was more because you pretend to be an expert on a job you seemingly haven't done before. Handing back the 530GT next week and I'll get glad to see it go. It is a lovely car if you just want to go from A to B in comfort. I'm looking forward to getting the Porsche out again Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N.Wood Posted February 27, 2014 Report Share Posted February 27, 2014 Surely thats like saying I can watch professional gay Tom Daley do a dive and therefore can go and dive exactly the same as him after he has explained it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin Reynolds Posted February 27, 2014 Report Share Posted February 27, 2014 (edited) . Edited February 27, 2014 by Martin Reynolds Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
george_seamons Posted February 27, 2014 Report Share Posted February 27, 2014 Exactly as Paul said, it's only because you talk down to somebody that has actually done the job themselves, and basically told them they have done it wrong. Using your analogy, it's like me telling you that you are cooking toast wrong. Even though you have cooked toast countless times yourself, and there is really only one way to do it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jake. Posted February 27, 2014 Report Share Posted February 27, 2014 Cheers guys. Will be collecting a cambelt from the local vw heritage shop soon! Wish me luck Also, has anyone fitted a turbo to a diesel engine before? Was it a case of just fitting it or did you have to get a better cooling system, exhaust, manifold etc? I've got a mk3 golf 1Y engine which supposedly has diesel or oil squirter Jets under all 4 cylinders which cools the pistons which also means I can supposedly turbo the f**k out of it without worrying too much about engine overheating? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CurtisRider Posted February 27, 2014 Report Share Posted February 27, 2014 If only fitting a turbo was as easy as bolting it on and making an exhaust! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
george_seamons Posted February 27, 2014 Report Share Posted February 27, 2014 Martin, get the car to TDC, and put a reference mark on the camshaft sprocket and another on the head at a suitable place where they line up. That way, you will always have a reference point as long as you don't turn the cams 180 degrees when you take the belt off. That way belt stretch isn't an issue (as long as you get the timing marks correct and the marks are put on while the timing is spot on obviously! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pashley26 Posted February 27, 2014 Report Share Posted February 27, 2014 I think it was more because you pretend to be an expert on a job you seemingly haven't done before. Handing back the 530GT next week and I'll get glad to see it go. It is a lovely car if you just want to go from A to B in comfort. I'm looking forward to getting the Porsche out again I have done it before though, and I have also watched countless people struggle because they are doing it wrong. I can do it right, as I am sure George can. And in the grand ol' scheme of things, a cambelt on a 1.8t is a fairly easy thing to do. Not only because of the mechanical simplicity of the job, but as in my case because it is SO well documented that any troubles you do come up with will be because you haven't followed the guide you are reading correctly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pashley26 Posted February 27, 2014 Report Share Posted February 27, 2014 (edited) Surely thats like saying I can watch professional gay Tom Daley do a dive and therefore can go and dive exactly the same as him after he has explained it.No, that's nothing like what I said. I CAN and HAVE done it before, I have done pretty much everything before. However, I have many people around me who can do it better (IE quicker, more efficiently and safer) so why would I do it myself. The theory of how it is done, and the actual doing it are great. But I am messy, I leave tools every where, and I refuse to work on axle stands with hand tools. That's my problem. Give me a ramp and my dad's tool box and I can and will do as much as the rest of them. I also hate getting dirty, and fiddling around in stupid tight places trying to put nuts and bolts in. Which is why I am very happy my dad has a ramp in his new unit now so we don't have to borrow his neighbors. Edited February 27, 2014 by Pashley26 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
george_seamons Posted February 27, 2014 Report Share Posted February 27, 2014 You 100% have not done the whole job on your own. You said so yourself. It's not a difficult job by any means, it's just awkward and a bit time consuming having to fudge around the big lump of metal that makes access challenging. Any cambelt is the same principle: either lock the crank and cam with locking tools, or line up the timing marks. The only difference is the amount of crap you have to get out of the way to get the belt on and off. Have a go if you are confident...it's only nuts and bolts! Just turn it over by hand a couple of times to check the timing before you fire it up! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobinJI Posted February 27, 2014 Report Share Posted February 27, 2014 (edited) An interesting debate looked like it was about to start... then Jardo happened. Jake, a cam-belt on yours will be easy enough. A half decent 1/4" socket set with a mix of deep and normal sockets, and allen key sockets/drivers for the rachet will make life a lot easier when it comes to getting the belt covers off. Access is tight, but with the right length of socket/extensions you'll find it's not too bad. Remember there's the diesel pump to time up too, as well as the camshaft as it's timing's critical. As said, mark everything first and it should be easy. At least you'll have a manual tensioner which makes life a lot easier than the 1.8t's these guys are talking about. Shame it's not a petrol, the 8v 1.6/1.8 VW lumps are non-interference so you can't damage anything by getting it wrong. Back to the 'replacement for displacement' comment, bing, if you're talking about the car he referred to as 'my shed' I was pretty sure it's a 2.3 turbo volvo, so a 2.1 pinto would be quite a downgrade, even with some posh parts On that subject, I'm kind of tempted to go down the supercharger route rather than turboing the MX-5, just for the throttle response. I've never driven a supercharged car though, so I don't really know how comparable they are to a larger NA lump. Or do I just stick throttle bodies and a few other N/A tweaks on it and have some slow fun, eventually followed by more displacement. Edited February 27, 2014 by RobinJI 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete.M Posted February 27, 2014 Report Share Posted February 27, 2014 Supercharged mx-5 sounds awesome. As for the engine thing, I was mainly pondering over the options for the Sierra. It seems likely that we'll be keeping it Ford. V8 would be nice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MadManMike Posted February 27, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 27, 2014 So I scanned my car today, got fault code 00778, but not the full code because I only got to use one of those plug in things rather than VAGCOM or similar. Sounds like there's a few options there as to what it could be... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prawny Baby Posted February 27, 2014 Report Share Posted February 27, 2014 Charge it Robin, you have to.I know ''slow is fun'' and all that, but eventually, there comes a time where everyone will want to go faster.Even the most tricked out mx5's are still comparitively slow around a lap, regardless of how fun they might be.That's probably why Tarty bought himself such an epic monster Westy!Dales turbo'd MX5 was only around 180bhp, but that was seriously fast! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forteh Posted February 27, 2014 Report Share Posted February 27, 2014 I changed the cambelt on my old fiesta, engine turned over perfectly by hand, turned it over on the starter and bang, crunch, crunch, rattle and silence. Forgot to torque up the bottom pulley and it span on the shaft lunching 80% of the valves Whereas changing the cambelt on my supermoto I will do without even locking the crank, takes about 10 minutes at most 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greetings Posted February 27, 2014 Report Share Posted February 27, 2014 Just came back from a 600 mile long journey in the E38 bimmer. Absolutely love that car. It's good for long journeys like this one, pulling the rally car across half the country on a trailer, it's fun to drive on mountain roads, engine sounds amazing, covering 100km in it costs like 6 quid if you go all eco or 8 if you drive it normally and on a rally practice session it was quicker with 5 people on board than a few stripped out E30's. Can't imagine a more versatile vehicle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bing Posted February 27, 2014 Report Share Posted February 27, 2014 Supercharged mx-5 sounds awesome. As for the engine thing, I was mainly pondering over the options for the Sierra. It seems likely that we'll be keeping it Ford. V8 would be nice! That's what I was referring to, the Sierra. A cosworth would be too easy. A ford 302 v8 would be a nice fit, I seem to remember an article for a a few years ago in fast car about a bloke from Finland with a saph which had a 302 v8 in with a Holley 4 barrel carb on. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skoze Posted February 27, 2014 Report Share Posted February 27, 2014 BOA V6? Still pondering one for the Capri; 220bhp for a few hundred quid. Bolt some turbos on and you're on to silly power before you know it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geniuus Posted February 28, 2014 Report Share Posted February 28, 2014 got my subaru impreza happy boi! just want it to snow now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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