Cambelt renew

[OwenGT3]

Hi,

I started doing my cambelt replacement this evening, and having heard all the stories about how it's perhaps best with the engine out than in, ok it would be, but you don't take your engine out every five minutes, I was dreading doing the job in the car. I mean, I've done loads of cambelts in my time, some real pain in the arse cars, but I have to say this job isn't as bad as it's been made out, well on a Steven's car. I started the job about 7pm and if I could have got the crank pulley off, I would have had the belt off tonight, less than 3 hours. That includes jacking the car up and doing it on stands, no pit, the only reason it's not off is I ran out of light and I needed to take the boot floor out to jam the flywheel as the engine won't lock, even in gear, too much bounce on my strong bar.

The alternator came off really easy, and the PAS pump belt after some persuasion. I've drained the water and have put new paint in my timing marks, all lines up fine, also took the plugs out to ease turning over of the engine. I will remove the boot floor tomorrow, less than ten minute job as I recently fitted new bolts in the floor, then see if I can jam the fly wheel. It doesn't matter if I have to take the starter off as I have now decided to do a few other jobs while I've got it stripped that I noticed, plus I'm going to paint some of the engine parts.

Also as I've got the battery disconnected I can weld the exhaust mount bracket thats split, so the finish time for me fitting a belt won't be a true reflection on how long one takes, but I can honestly say these cars are not the worse ones in the world to do, this isn't the first Esprit myth busted I've come across.

Owen.

Edited June 10, 2008 by OwenGT3

[Paul C]

There's probably many esprit myths mate.

I've had three manifolds and about five cambelt changes and not once has

having the engine out ever been discussed or needed for any of them. There

must be some buyers guide or magazine feature somewhere that started such

scaremongery.

[t70]

BE VERY CAREFUL when putting the new belt on! You can EASILY slice the belt on the timing mark at the crank. You need to put it on 5mm at a time. If you try to force it on to the bottom timing gear (crank gear) you will slice the belt on the timing mark... and then it will tear!

[OwenGT3]

Thank you for the tip. While I've got it off I'm fitting a new front crank oil seal that's leaking, so when I take the engine out possibly next year, I won't have to strip the cambelt again. It's all accessible and doesn't look that bad. I'm painting my alternator as well as the starter if I take it off. Also the fuel transfer pipe, I will put some paint on that.

It is nice once you have done a few items like this how much satisfaction you get from having improved the car, even if it's not immediately noticeable.

Owen.

[karluk29]

im not mechanical AT ALL, so my mate does all the work on my car and it took him 3-4hours start to finish, he had never done a esprit belt b4, of course we thought it would be funny to phone the lotus garage and they quoted,,,,get ready:-

[Advantage]

Ermm, those who know Esprits would never suggest taking the engine out to do the cam belt. Not so much a myth, more like ignorance.

[mike_sekinger]

... or an opportunity to fleece the unwitting.....

[andydclements]

Ermm, those who know Esprits would never suggest taking the engine out to do the cam belt. Not so much a myth, more like ignorance.

My engine will probably come out when I do the belt on the TE, but that's becasue I have 3 jobs to do. All are possible in situ, one is slightly easier with it out, the other is only possible with it out assuming you envounter a manifold nut that doesn't want to move, the engine mout replacement is just minimal effort even with the engine in place.

I can only guess the book says take the engine out so as to be able to apply lots of force to remove the bottom pulley if it's a pain, or simply as a good thorough inspection of things like the water pump.

[DanR]

Did that 950 include doing the valve clearances, tensioner-bearings, other belts etc or just changing the cambelt?

Certainly doesn't need to be removed.

[OwenGT3]

Hi,

I plan on taking the engine out as I want to referbish the engine bay and check all pipes etc, but that will be next year. I just felt it safer to do the cambelt now as I am unsure when it was last changed, my records show 40k, and my car is now 70k, so it needs one. I'm not in business so don't have to do the belt in record time, I just want to do it and the few other items I can see that need doing at a nice pace, I've taken the afternoon of to do some more.

Owen.

[Bibs]

im not mechanical AT ALL, so my mate does all the work on my car and it took him 3-4hours start to finish, he had never done a esprit belt b4, of course we thought it would be funny to phone the lotus garage and they quoted,,,,get ready:-

[SE Owner :-D]

Belts and Manifold both done in situ.

[OwenGT3]

Hi,

Well I broke the tightness of the crank pulley bolt, once the engine was tightly locked it came undone easily. Not long after that the belt was off, as I was on my own I held the screwdriver with mole grips which done the trick.

I'm now going to do a few other jobs on the car while I can get around the engine, I will get the tensioner bearing pressed out at work tomorrow and the new one fitted. The belt and tensioner look fine, but it was more to do with peace of mind that I have done the job, it gives me a starting point to when the belt needs servicing regularly.

Owen.

I removed my exhaust manifold in situ to repair the crack.

Locking the flywheel.

What's this all about, wonder what caused these marks on the crank pulley?

Edited June 11, 2008 by OwenGT3

[andydclements]

Considering the surface I'd say teh question was caused rather than causing, they look like they hapened some time ago.

The cam belts normally leave an image of themselves on the edge of the pulley, but that doesn't look like the cause to em.

[esprits4de]

Before I bought my Esprit I did research on these cars......I stumbled across a site where there was a description on how to change the belt without removing the engine. I lost it somewhere, but it was verry well described... anyone have it still ?

It was in red writing on black wallpaper.

[OwenGT3]

Got my works engineering department to press my tensioner bearing out today, new one fitted by lunchtime, so was pleased thats done. Now to get on with removing the crank seal.

Owen

[mike40]

That crank pulley looks similar to mine and the marks were made by me drifting the pulley off when I changed my belt with engine in situ.

Mike

[OwenGT3]

Hi,

I think the marks have been made trying to remove it from the engine, luckily I had no such problem, it came off by hand. Just painted my alternator silver and the support bracket, looks a lot better than it was at the start of the evening. I will paint the alternator fan tomorrow gold, and the pully black. I'm going to get a new nylock lock nut tomorrow from work to replace the tensioner one.

Just checked the eather and it looks like another rainy Saturday, luckily haveing the carport this will not stop play, so Saturday I will hopefully have the new front seal fitted and the cambelt back on, could be on the road Sunday, but I'm not rushing the job, would rather take my time and get it spot on than have a mistake.

I've checked the water pump bearing and that feels ok, no play, also the alternator bearings run free and no play. I've even turned the rocker cover round that was fitted on the wrong way round, so now the word LOTUS faces outwards as it should.

Owen.

[DanR]

A good idea while changing the cambelt is to replace one of the waterpump bolts. It's the one behind the jackshaft pulley. Swap it for a caphead bolt so if ever you need to replace a waterpump access won't be a problem. Otherwise that particular bolt if left can become a major source of aggro and dismantling of a lot more items than planned.

[OwenGT3]

Hi,

Well the Cambelt is back on and all timed up. As it was my first Lotus belt change, Andy C was kind enough to come over and check that all was as it should be and I was reading the tension gauge he lent me correctly.

Today was spent fitting the new front crank oil seal and cleaning up the housing, then refitting the belt. It was a little fiddly fitting it, but at least I know now the next time how to approach the job of refitting. the hardest part is getting the longest length of the belt to match the pulleys, but once these are ok it's relativitly easy after that. The tesioner didn't require that much adjusting, and after checking the engine after a few turns the tension gauge was still reading correct and the timing marks all lined up. It did help painting the marks white when aligning.

the only down side to today was my fuel line has come adrift from the crimped end, which is a pain as that was a new made pipe, but using the old ends, so I've now got to find a place that can make me a new fuel pipe as Lotus no longer provide one.

Owen.

Some pics of todays progress. It did rain, but it was great to carry on working without having to worry about the weather. Brilliant!

Drawer I made to remove the crank cam pulley.

Cleaning up the block face surface ready for the seal housing.

Old seal prior to removal, photo taken for reference.

Clean crank seal housing and cambelt fitted. Note new nut fitted to tensioner so new nylock fitted.

Edited June 15, 2008 by OwenGT3

[Quicker]

I did mine right after I purchased the car - took a whole afternoon - I also cleaned as much of the engine, pullies, ...etc as I could. Swapped all the other belts as well.

I used the guide from Travis - VulcanGrey

I took tons of pics if anyone needs them.

[OwenGT3]

Hi,

Car back on the road today, been off about three weeks, and no it hasn't taken me that long to do it, but I haven't exactly rushed the job, also I done a few others jobs I spotted while I had the car in the air.

Now I've done the cambelt I may go until the next change before taking the engine out, I can't say I loved working on axle stands so I will need my pit before I do it again, so I need to get that installed next year or the year after then it will be all systems go for an engine out.

As well as the engine out I will also take the fuel tanks out that I noticed are flaking of powder coat. This is a good protection while it's new, but once it starts to lift it's basically useless, I can help but think that good old fashion paint would have been a better protection than powder coat, at least the flakes of paint coming off wouldn't have been so big. Also I will replace my link pipe with a stainless one, I've done a temporary repair paint job to keep it going for the next two years.

Reflection on the job as a whole, not as bad as I first imagined or had heard, pit would have made life easier, not only for underneath, but for not needing a step ladder for on top work to get in the car! Have a few cuts and bruisers, but generally unscathed, but to sum up I wouldn't want to do one in the trade against the clock. Worst part was the bottom hose, talk about no room to move!

Owen

Post cambelt outing.