[Vwdiesel] timing belt r&r questions

[LBaird119 at aol.com]

In a message dated 11/11/2002 4:27:02 PM Pacific Standard Time,
dennis at pantazis.org writes:

> took off the valve cover, timing belt covers. from the cracks and amount of
>  wear on the plastic timing belt cover, i would guess that is been off a few
>  times. the outside edge of the timing belt shows wear. the corner is worn
>  off and i can see the cords inside showing.

 If the outside edge of the belt is showing heavy wear be SURE to check
the pump shaft for wobble.  Just grab the big pulley and wiggle it once the
timing belt is off.  It's a bushing instead of a bearing and they wear egg
shaped, toward the direction of pull.  About toward the tensioner.
>
>  i turned over the engine by the nut on the crank. watched the hole at the
>  bellhousing (?term).
>  i could not see any marks on the flywheel for tdc! could i miss them? i
dont
>  see a pointer in the hole.
>  btw, which side should the pointer be on? d/s or p/s?

  The pointer is on the engine side of the hole, down at the bottom of the
threads.  It helps to wipe it clean.  :)
>
>  i didn't have a rubber plug in the bellhousing hole, its a largeish (50mm+)
>  plastic bung with a large hex (19mm) hole and a plastic hex plug that looks
>  like a nut with a single tab to pull on.  its right about on top of the
>  bellhousing.
>  does this sound right? seems like a really small hole to be looking into.

  The plug is actually plastic and the reason it's there is only to plug the
hole the special tool goes into, to remove the big plug so that you can
see the pointer and mark.  :)  Without a special tool you can make one
out of a bolt with the appropriate sized head, or just grab it with a pair
of channel locks, from outside to near edge of hole, and turn it out bit
by bit.
>
>  am i at top dead center? is it correct to assume that i'm at tdc of number
>  one cylinder?
>
  With the cam lobes point upward and the rest, it sounds like you'll see
the "o" with the little "v" above it when you pull the plug.  :)

>  i haven't made a cam lockout plate yet. i have access to mill and such.
>  any advice on making one of these. i am shooting for the thickness of 4.3
mm
>  or 0.1693 in for the part that fits into the cam. i have read the procedure
>  to shim the lockout plate, but how critical is it to

  I have a cam plate but only because I got a good deal on it.  :)  I just
eyeball the slot to the top of the head.  The plate always just slides
right in after I eyeball it.  :)
>
>  what do you do for the holding crankshaft. should i even bother? just make
>  marks of paint? but on what? the crankshaft pulley has to come off. what
>  keys the pulley to the crank sprocket?

  When you know where everything goes it's not a problem if the crank
turns a little.  You don't have to pull the big bolt on the crank, just the
4, 6mm allen head bolts.  The pulley is indexed on a little bump on the
crank gear and a dent in the pulley.
     Loren