timing belt--a better crankbolt locker

[LOACESQ@aol.com]

Hi List,

Having just spent 22 hours (not kidding) on the timing belt job (and I haven't
even gotten to the point of putting anything back on yet!)  I have come up
with a little something to  contribute to the list.

First, the good stuff--a better crank bolt locker.  Forget about the
transmission holes, or rope in the cylinder, or C-clamp through the harmonic
balancer.  Use a 12mm "L" shaped allen wrench, about 170 mm long, of high
quality (Cr-V) material.   Turn the harmonic balancer so the "tab" on the
inner ring is at about 1 o'clock (if loosening, or 7 o'clock if tightening).
Insert the short end of the allen wrench into the inner ring of the harm.
balancer, bracing against the tab.  Butt the long end of the allen wrench
**squarely** against the "pivot cylinder" (for lack of a better name) of the
mounting bracket for the alternator.  This is essentially how the Audi tool
locks the balancer, but the allen wrench is mucho cheaper--around $5 each or
$15 for a variety pack--and has additional usefulness.

Now the reason it took me so *oddamn long to dissassemble is thanks, once
again, to some monkey lad who put 750 ft-lbs of torque on the crankbolt!  I
tried for hours to budge the thing, pulling, pushing, going out to buy
progressively longer cheater bars.   Finally, with me (170 lbs) standing on
the end of a four foot bar, holding a twenty pound dumbbell, the bolt
slowwwwly began to turn.  

Same problem with the cam gear bolt.  The suggested method of using a beefy
flat bladed screwdriver resting against the t-belt cover stud to hold the cam
gear locked only succeeded in bending the stud.  Once again, an allen wrench
did the trick, with the short end inserted against one of the spokes of the
cam gear, and the long end resting against the alternator mounting bracket.
The cam gear took about 150 ft-lbs.

Q:  what kind of tensioner isn't adjustable? 
A: an Audi tensioner.  

Do I have this right??  The idler pulley/tensioner isn't adjustable--tension
is adjusted with the waterpump, a device that is flat-mated to the engine
block with an o-ring seal.  I'm supposed to slide this device around to
tension the t-belt.  Meanwhile, the o-ring on its backside is being rubbed,
twisted and abraded, and afterwards, will be expected to hold coolant under
pressure??

Does anyone know if Audi sells a mixed hardware replacement set for all those
rusted out nuts & bolts you discover in doing the t-belt job?  It would be
good to have new hardware ready for the reinstall.  Also, my addtiional advice
for anyone doing the t-belt job is to change all the v-belts with it.  The
standard advice only seems to include the idler pulley and the water pump.
Both my a/c compressor and my hydr pump were at their closest positions, and I
still couldn't remove the belts (or put on new ones) without taking the
harmonic balancer off.  

HTH!

Adam

87 5kcst
89 200q