Timing Belt Change Data Points - and Thanks to QListers!

["Fred Munro" <munrof@isys.ca>]

    Well, I'm deep into the 250k preventative maintenance on my '91 200q.
Many thanks to qlisters who over the past many months provided the tips &
tricks which identified what work should be done and how best to accomplish
it! The list is a fantastic resource!
    Just did the T-belt (and idler pulley, water pump, cam seal, crank seal)
this weekend. A few data points from the job:
    I used Doug Q's 12mm allen wrench suggestion as a crank lock. I bought a
long allen key and cut it to 170 mm length. It worked well, although there
is a bit of spring in the wrench which takes some getting used to when
loosening & tightening the balancer bolt. It works great as a cam gear lock.
Definitely easier than rope in the cylinder or the bolt in the flywheel.
    It looks like the T-belt may be the original. It has multiple hairline
cracks edge to edge on the smooth side and dark bars across the smooth side
in between each tooth position. All the bolts were clean and looked like
factory assembly.  I guess T-belts can last 257k km, but I wouldn't
recommend it.
    The three oil pump bolts which secure the belt cover backing plate were
treated with green threadlocking compound. The idler pulley bolt was not.
The balancer and bolt were also locked with green compound, but
interestingly it was not applied to the threads. It was applied to the
vertical face of the crankshaft nose and to the unthreaded portion of the
bolt in the harmonic balancer. In deference to the Bentley and Phil's last
post on the subject, I put anti-seize compound under the bolt head, Loctite
blue where the green threadlocker had been, and left the bolt threads clean.
    To torque the balancer bolt, I rented a 3/4" drive torque wrench. It did
not fit between the bolt and the lower panel. To avoid removing the lower
panel, I fell back to Plan B - I torqued it to 250 ft/lb with my own wrench,
then stood on a 2 foot 3/4" drive breaker bar - should be about 380 ft/lbs!
    The biggest PITA in the whole job was the removal of the crank oil pump
seal. I wrapped brass shim stock around the crank and slid it under the seal
to protect the crank surface. I made up a hooked tool which slipped under
the seal lip and grabbed the metal seal flange and used a slide hammer to
pull on the seal. This managed to straighten out the flange but didn't move
the seal. I ended up driving the seal rim inward with a pin punch and
cutting through the rim (very carefully) with a needle file. After cutting
it halfway through, I collapsed more of the seal rim towards the crank and
managed to loosen it up enough to get it out. Took about 2 hours!

     Now I dive into replacing the blower motor and heater core! What a
great hobby :o)

Fred Munro
'91 200q  257k km  (it's not getting older, it's getting better!)