Headgasket And Cambelt

[Guest yellow peril]

Hi folks - after far too longer period of time I eventually mustered up the effort to start getting the car in some shape - unfortunately first job is headgasket change. I caught it before doing any running around with it gone luckily - must have literally decided to mix up the water and oil on just starting it up in the garage..

 

but I've never done one before - and I think I'm happy with getting the head off and on - but not so confident on the cam belt removing and refitting. Scuse my rough mechanical ideas here if you will - but can I simply mark the top pully and belt with tipex and push it back on in the same place when I put the head back on?

 

advice greatly received - and i wish I'd done these jobs when the weather was crap as I'm allready missing stoneleigh

 

cheers all

[miikae]

Align no 1 cylinder to TDC marks on crankshaft pulley to pointer on front oil seal housing and the camshaft sprocket alignment marks ( pointer on the sprocket to the popped mark on the cylinder head) , also note rotor arm position . Just make a note of everything that way it saves hair loss later .

All before you take the cam belt off too .

 

Mike

[Guest yellow peril]

right oh - whats the view on using gasket sealer as well as the gasket - good or bad idea?

[miikae]

Never used it only a light smear of grease .

But then i am old school !

 

Mike

[Guest chris brown]

right oh - whats the view on using gasket sealer as well as the gasket - good or bad idea?

Once you have set the timing marks up I usually use tipex to mark all sprockets whatever the engine I’m doing (unless it is pined) but on the pinto it is more use than on most as it is very easy to get the aux sprocket one tooth out (no problem if you have a strobe to hand) which knocks the timing way out.

[Guest yellow peril]

I just hoped that if I set too with tipex marking the crank pulley position against the block and the camshaft sprocket against the casing I couldnt go too wrong getting the belt back on? - not a mehcanic by any means but I've got a haynes manual and i'm not afraid to use it, even when it doesn't make much sense.

[miikae]

If you mark everything well and take a few notes before you start you shouldnt go wrong , slowly slowly catch de monkey eh .

You know you can do it really just have faith .

 

Mike

[Guest scottie686]

Hi folks - after far too longer period of time I eventually mustered up the effort to start getting the car in some shape - unfortunately first job is headgasket change. I caught it before doing any running around with it gone luckily - must have literally decided to mix up the water and oil on just starting it up in the garage..

 

but I've never done one before - and I think I'm happy with getting the head off and on - but not so confident on the cam belt removing and refitting. Scuse my rough mechanical ideas here if you will - but can I simply mark the top pully and belt with tipex and push it back on in the same place when I put the head back on?

 

advice greatly received - and i wish I'd done these jobs when the weather was crap as I'm allready missing stoneleigh

 

cheers all

 

Not teaching you how to suck eggs but dont forget the head bolts need to go back in in a certain order!! I never knew this when changing the headgasket on my zetec but luckily a friend of mine gave me a hand and had his 'ford technical data book' with him which is my new bible! There's me ready to tighten the bolts any which way when in fact i had to tighten them in sequence to 25nm then up to 45nm and then an additional 105 degrees!! I also had to have the head skimmed as it had slightly warped and cylinders 2, 3, & 4 were effectively joined!

 

Scott.

[miikae]

A very good point Scottie that is often taken for granted by those of us who have done his many times , as the head bolt tightening sequence is as important if not more so than what follows after , also new head bolts wouldnt go amiss either , plus a head flatness check to save further problems in ths area . Anything to prevent it happening again and so leaving it to be driven and enjoyed .

 

Mike

[Guest yellow peril]

haven't been in the garage since taking off manifolds ect - so I can just take head off when ready - so this weekend I'll look at doing some more - thanks for the hints - I was replacing head bolts anyway as I think they are of the stretchy variety aren't they? and useless once untightened again.

 

The haynes does outline the tightening sequence so i'll follow it to the letter - though I need to get a torque wrench for the job - i'll try not to bodge it . I'm hoping the head isn't too warped as it's not done much since a full engine rebuild where nothing was left untouched and the head was already skimmed - bout 3 yrs ago it was fully rebuilt and it hasn't done any more than 5000 miles since. Gasket's not lasted long at that rate -

[Guest erichetherington]

If you are looking for a torque wrench try Machine Mart, only about £16 there.

[Guest salty_monk]

Might want to think about taking 40 thou off it for more compression before you put it back on.... Sir Chris has this mod.

 

Dan

[Big Jim]

Whatever you do, DO NOT put anything onto the new head gasket, sealant or grease, it must go on completely dry and clean. Also, don't skimp and get a cheap gasket, but there's no need to get one of the super-duper ones either.

Line every thing up ie, TDC, with cam gear "spot" on it's mark. As has been said, note where the rotor arm is pointing, Before removing the old cambelt.

Follow the tightening sequence to the letter, don't try to shortcut it.

Sometimes you can loan a good torque wrench from an accesory shop.

Use new headbolts.

 

As I've said, read the haynes manual, follow it by the letter with ref to torquing etc, and you'll not have any further problems with the head gasket again.

[agent_zed]

ive always found when putting on the cam belt to make sure to put it tight between the crank and camshaft side and slip it on. If you do it the side with the tensioner then you may find it moves as there could be slack the otherside. If you think out it the non-tensioner side is the driven side so needs to be correct between the 2 points the other side just takes up the slack. (forgive me if you already know this...)

 

Also its a bad idea to use newspaper to stop bits going into the bores and then bolt the head on.... it smells like burning paper and you have to fish half burnt paper out of the spark plug holes

 

Thats what you get for rushing to get the head on before it rains...