[V8] Was: Replacing the thermostat Is now: Timing belt time

[Dave Saad]

some tribal knowledge:
once the cam sprockets are off, look behind the rear cover plates for oil leaks. if you remove these plates the cam seal is easy to replace and you can also put some sealer on the O rings behind the plates.

i think the oil pump bearing gets blamed for being noisy when the real culpret is the tbelt tensioner. if coolant gets on the bushing (guaranteed) then the tensioner sticks and makes a loud clack. i used graphite as lube last time and made sure NO coolant drips down there.

removing the front bumper makes things MUCH easier but is itself a lot of work. you (I anyway) can get by without doing it. last time I didnt even pull the belly pan cover.

to do the crank bolt i made a tool - a cheater pipe with a 1/2 drive socket welded at 90 deg on one end so i can make a 3 foot long extension for my torque wrench. then set wrench to 110 lbs/ft to get 330 lbs/ft at the bolt.

all i can think of now - i need to get to the beach as i am in san sebastian spain now! what a great place.

dave