Should I attempt timing belt replacement myself?

[launieg]

Hey Bruce, if you are going to do this, PM or email me and I could come up and help out. We have a reason to visit friends on Quadra Island, and it would only take an hour or so to stop by and do this with you. Plus I seem to have a bit of time on my hands these last two weeks - not enough work. (I'm not insinuating you are not capable of doing it by yourself )

[courtenay]

Thanks, Launie, but Jim in Campbell River and I are going to collaborate on this one. I bought the car from him and he'll be doing his other car in a few weeks. We're going to do them both at the same time...as well as a few other things. I'm looking forward to the learning experience.
Let us know if you do come up for a visit to Quadra. It would be nice to meet a fellow Fiat buff!

[84pininfarinablack]

im guessing 4th and 5th gears dont work too well as a parking brake. dont do that on a hill hugh ?

[84pininfarinablack]

I have an 84 so im guessing ill have to remove the 2nd timing belt cover.. and remove the crankshaft. I dont have a power air wrench... or breaker bars... Is this bolt like space shuttle tight or something? I weigh 170 and am average buffness. and have a good socket set but from what one guy said it maybe impossible without the breaker / air wrench.

[kilrwail]

You'll need a breaker bar for countless other jobs. I suggest you spend the $25 and get a good one at least 2 ft long. But you still may need a compressor to remove the crank pulley, if required.

[84pininfarinablack]

so you dont think im getting it off by hand with a socket set ? how about a lug wrench.. will that be strong enough.

[84pininfarinablack]

is a breaker bar a steel tube that slips over your socket wrench?

[kilrwail]

A breaker bar is a long socket wrench, without a ratchet - just a hinged tip where the 1/2" male part is located. You could try using a piece of iron pipe (like natural gas pipe) on your socket drive, but it's not good for the ratchet. Besides, this is an opporunity to treat yourself to a new tool!

[84pininfarinablack]

thank you for the education... a new tool@!!!!! har har oooooo har har oooo .. those are ape sounds.. I can do ape in cursive but not typing.. sorry.. Yes i need a great big bad ass socket wrench... non ratcheting because that would lose power right? im a genius.. Ill store this new tool under my bed.. im running out of places to put all this stuff. I dont have a garge just a small front porch and the old lady is already about to kill me for turning our front porch into a fiat junkyard..
How do you throw away extra parts ? what if i need them one day ? am i a hoarder ? lol it would seem so.. with fiat parts at least.. do you guys just keep everything ? I do.

[rlux4]

Yes, it's a malady common to all of us. The rationalization is usually; "if I don't ever need it, someone else will".
Ron

[katsi]

Having just sucessfully done this for the first time, I would not hesitate to try and do this again. I had a mishap with my aux gear so be sure to check under "Clanging Noise" as their is an awesome diagram showing the correct placement of the aux gear. Good luck.

[joelbert2k]

When I changed mine I was beginning to think that the crank pulley bolt was welded on!
I had an 18" long 1/2" drive breaker bar with a 2' cheater bar to go with it. I set the parking brake, put the car in 4th or 5th and blocked the wheels. There was no way that car was going anywhere. I was right it didn't move however the engine turned over. When driving the clutch had never shown any signs of slipping but there it was!
So solve that problem I fabricated some clips to hold the flywheel and was able to finally loosen the @$@%@ bolt.

Here's what I made, it was pretty simple once I thought of it. (That's a 10mm wrench)



Just take off the dust cover and slide them into the flywheel teeth then bolt them to the holes for the dust cover. I put one for each direction so there was no problem tightening the bolt.

Joel

[84pininfarinablack]

this sounds like a nightmare. lol i may just bribe my mechanic friend with $100 bucks
Already got the belt from IAP.. wow they ship super fast.
When they go out of business i guess we will all be screwed.