5kcstq Timing Belt Job - Complete

["Douglas Hurst Quebbeman" <dougq@iglou.com>]

A stiff and sore Good Morning to the List!

After two days of reassembly, my Q is running again.

I haven't posted much about it in a while, so let me bring eeryone up to date
on what I found while I was in there.

The existing timing belt still had a little bit of printing visible on the
outside, and the water pump really looked pretty clean, so I'm guessing that the
belt and pump were replaced at about 120k, just like they were suppose to be.

However, the idle pulley had a little play in it, so they must not have
replaced it. BTW, that one was easy to replace. Pulled it with a two-jaw puller-
trick is to place a small bolt in the center hole that will go deep enough to
rest against the bottom of the bolt hole, and then provide a head against which
the puller center pivot-thingie can push. MEanwhile, when I began the belt job,
I'd placed the new idler pulley in the freezer. When time to install, I cleaned
up the mating hole in the oil pump first with CLR to remove corrosion, then
buffed with some scotchbrite, then blew clean with carb cleaner. Dry with clean
blue shop towel, go get new pulley from freezer (handling it with cloth
gloves), and stuck it in- went most of the way by itself, slammed it home with
the wooden end of a hammer.

A local wrench (owner of one of the better import service places around here)
told me he uses a thin-blade screwdriver to pry the crankshaft oil seal out.
I try for 45 minutes to do this, finally I'm cussing him and throwing the
tools back into the box when I decide to sit down in front of the engine 
and try again. Out pops the seal, and I apoligize to him in absentia.

Installing the new seal: here's what I did to get around not having tool
2080a. That tool seems to have two parts, one which protects the inner surface
from being damaged by the sharp edge of the crankshaft or the keyslot on the
crank. I just used some black vinyl electrical tape around said parts of the
crank. This kept the seal from being hurt as I slid it on.

Next, I went to the hardware store and bought a 1 1/4th inch pipe coupling
(female on both ends) and a 3/4 inch (I.D.) washer and used those with the
crank bolt to press in the new seal. Went in a little sideways, but ultimately
seated OK. No sign of leaks so far, but later today I'll make a high-speed
run to test it further.

One thing I discovered while I had everything off was that my turbo oil supply
line had pretty rotten-looking crimps, so I bought a new one. Thanks to
Osman Parvez & Bill Banks for the 20% off on that.

During previous ownership, this line had been replaced. The guilty wrench
did not get all of the gasket scraped off of the turbo, and had used some
black silicone/RTV/form-a-gasket to hide the mistake. No excuses here
as I removed the rest of the gasket with ease (replaced with a new gasket).
It appears from what I saw that my turbo may not have been getting as much
oil flow as it should. There was some dark gunk in there that was a different
color than the oil in my sump (having just changed the oil two weekends pior).

Even so, my turbo is in great shape. It has some nicks on the cold-side 
turbine, but there is no detectable play at all, and the nut is on tight.

Also, I replaced my turbo water return line, by way of Graydon Stuckey's
alterative part. It uses a cloth-covered hose instead of a rust-prone steel
line. However, I was concerned about the hose flopping about and becoming
abraded. So, I bought a metal-braided-hose dress-up kit, and covered the cloth
hose with some kind of metal braid (it would be nice to fantasise that it's
stainless steel). I used some of it on one radiator hose, too, complete with
the clamp covers.

My turbo water feed line was in good shape- all the cadmium plating is
still visible. However, the crimped-on hose on the block end had
been removed and replaced with a hose using and additional clamp.
So, I'll be bringing Graydon's replacement along on the PP trip in
case anyone has a failure (or wants to buy it).

When I started to reassemble everything, over and over, I kept trying to put
the power steering pump belt back on too soon. Had everything back together
and was about to torque the crankshaft bolt when I remembered I had forgotten to
torque the camshaft gear bolt. Tear back down, torque, put back together.

I placed all of my 185 lbs at a point approximately 1.8 feet out along
my cheater bar and let gravity torque the crankshaft bolt to as close
to 332 lb.ft. as I figured I was likely to come.

Re-gapped the plugs, cleaned the threads, added some anti-sieze,
reinstlled them, turned the key, and it started right up. The poor
hydraulic lifters moaned and wailed (in their clickety-clackety way) 
about having been deprived of lube for so long.

Bad news is the waterpump - a German GEBA - is a gobbler. I got this
from Rod (a great guy!) at The Parts Connection (formerly Import Parts
Connection). I'm sure I didn't over-tension the belt, although it
is rather tight (as I recall from discussions here about the German
engineer's thumb, &c).

Unless there was some contrary consensus, I'd stay away from the GEBAs.

On the other hand, could this point to that friction ring part I asked
the list about a week or so ago (which got no replies, I might add!)?

Remaining to be done: putting the bumber & trim back on so I can drive
it. Hey, I think I see some sunshine now...

Well, here's hoping my one or two tricks I mentioned might help someone
else doing their timing belt. Have a safe and happy Memorial Day, everyone!

--
-Douglas Hurst Quebbeman (dougq@iglou.com)            [Call me "Doug"]
    QuattroClub USA# 4536              Audi International # 100024
       74 100LS Auto, 77 100LS Auto, 84 Coupe GT, 86 5Kcstq   
"The large print giveth, and the small print taketh away."  -Tom Waits