[s-cars] '92 TBelt R&R - Update - Done!

[mdbishoff at attbi.com]

Here's the update on the tbelt R&R. I'm done! Everything went very, very
smooth. I have about 81k miles on the clock so the engine compartment is still
very clean. Nice shiny bolts, nothing rusted etc.

I followed the procedure almost exactly as specified in the following link. I
started Friday evening and was done on Saturday. Elapsed time - somewhere
around 10 hours. And that was just because I'm still admiring the technology
and ramping on the engine as a urs4 newbie. Just looking here and there as I
take things apart.

http://www.urs4.com/technical/repair/timing_belt/timing_belt.html

The great news is that I was able to borrow the crank pulley holding tool from
Alex (thanks Alex!) as well as the front seal puller. I can't imagine trying
to do this job without having either one of these tools. Alex's tool put the
crank 90 degrees out from TDC, but that's no big deal. I just turned the crank
back after installing the new tbelt to assure everything was aligned. The
front crank seal remover was SWEET! Seal popped right out. No problemo.

I did not create the elaborate radiator holding "tool" shown in the procedure
but instead used two pieces of wood. One to hold the radiator up off the floor
and the second to hold it away from the front of the car. Never got in the
way. Worked perfectly. I can rent these "tools" to you if needed. :-)

One thing I did differently was the capture of anti-freeze under the
thermostat and water pump by using my shop vac. As I was loosening the bolts
and stuff around these parts, I sucked the antifreeze into the vac to avoid
spraying anti-freeze all over the place. Worked perfectly. Nothing to clean up
aferwards except a little anti-freeze disposal from the vac.

I used the Audi extension bar tool as well for removing and installing the
crank bolt. With a 4 foot piece of steel tube over a 1/2" ratchet, the crank
bolt came off with relatively little effort. (Relative mind you. It was on
there good!) No wife involved except to take pictures. Torqued everything to
the max of my torque wrench at 250 lbs with the extension and then gave it a
extra push to hit the 258 target (this is with the extension bar on which
translates to a much higher torque at the bolt).

Sucked all the old anti-freeze out, then flushed and replaced all the "green"
anti-freeze with some fresh "red" antifreeze. Took 4.5 liters and a little
dilution with water to bring it back to the correct levels after being fully
drained.

Somehow with the new tbelt, tensioner, water pump, thermostat and mrbelt, the
car is feeling much perkier. The temps were nice here in Seattle yesterday -
around 60 degrees - and with the windows down, the sound of the boost and
whine from the turbo were awesome! And fortunately no extra noises from the
front.

Easy-breezy! Thanks all!

Mike Bishoff - '92 urS4 now with fresh parts up front.