Timing belt help on 4ks - troubles and thanks

[roger@mostro.sps.mot.com (Roger Albert)]

Hi,

Just wanted to respond the many of you who responded (and quickly)
to my timing belt swap woes over the weekend.  Thanks also to fellow
lister and all around great guy Eric Fluhr for lending a hand with
the actual work.

What a bite the job was.  The actual timing was remarkably easy, and
we found that the cam had been one tooth retarded, so that's now fixed.
Car seems a bit better below 4500 rpm or so, and a bit weaker above 4.5k.
Could just be imagining it too.  Not a dramatic difference at any rate.
The hard part on this job is if the stud on the front timing cover cap
backs out of the block.  You can't get the stud out then, because the
hex portion is held captive behind the lower/rear portion of the timing
cover, the access to which is blocked by the front cover, which of course
can't come off because of the cap-nut still on the stud.  You end up in
kind of a "ya can't get there from here" situation.  Very annoying.

All manner of trying to reach in and hold the stud to allow removing the
cap failed, so finally I (we - so many thanks to Eric) dremeled and pryed
and chiseled out a slot beneath the cap so we could just lift the cover 
straight up.  After that, the job went very quickly.  Anyone else run into
this problem before, or is it just part of my ongoing remarkably bad luck
with Audis?

One last little suprise in the deal.  One of the pulley's, I believe the
water pump. had the holes on its flange and pulley not symmetric, i.e.
not all at 90* to each other.  Took a long time to realize it.  The first
screw started out fine, and then I could never get the others in.  I've
not had that much trouble since my first blind chevy spark plug job around
14 yrs old.  Ughh. Such a simple thing that I wasted time on.  Is this normal?
(the asymmetry, not the wasted time).  I've never run into anything like it
before.

Anway, thanks again for everyones' help.  The beast is on the road again.

regards
roger

===================================================
Roger Albert (go Illini!)  Motorola.  Austin, Texas 
roger@mostro.sps.mot.com   Wireless/DSP Div.  56xxx
Red 94 Ducati M900 Monster  and  White 65 BMW R60/2 
Blue 1976 BMW R90/6 and  1974 R90/6 Sidecar project
1973 Moto Guzzi Eldorado, restoration now underway!
1986 Audi 4000S -- Yup, sometimes you need 4 wheels
---------------------------------------------------
Opinions expressed are always mine --, never Moto's
===================================================