Timing belt

RB20DET

Ok so I finished doing my Timing Belt, idler/tensioner bearings and waterpump today, and I thought I'd record some of the things that I found out which will make life a lot easier for those wanting to do the same.

So here are my tips:

• Get an Air Compressor and Rattle Gun - This makes it really easy to remove your crank pulley bolt. If you can't get access to one of these then I've heard you can use a breaker bar rested against the chassis while cranking the starter motor for a second, the only problem I can see with that is tightening it up again but I guess that could be done by putting the car in gear and tightening? Rattle gun is the easy way.

• Breaker Bar - Always good, a breaker bar will help you loosen some of the tighter bolts as well as helps you crank the motor when needed.

• 27mm Impact Socket - This is the size of the crank pulley bolt, get a socket to suit your rattle gun.

• Harmonic Balancer Puller and M6x50mm bolts and washers to suit - Self explanitory, makes pulling the harmonic balancer off a piece of cake.

• Gasket Maker - A tube of gasket maker stuff (blue tube, blue silicone kinda stuff) is required to make a gasket for your water pump.

• Water Pump - Use Genuine Nissan ONLY. I've heard nothing but bad things about non-genuine pumps, so dont skimp on this.

• Tensioner/Idler Bearings - While you are doing your timing belt, change the bearing cos they are very likely to be worn. Now, Nissan wants $105 for the tensioner and $315 for the idler pain is pleasure yeah, i thought that was a bit expensive too... The solution is just to get 2 tensioners, which are the locking type and you can lock one up without using a spring which will act as an idler. I forgot the part number BUT when asking the parts interpreter ask for a Tensioner Bearing for an R32 with RB20DET. (The guy had to cross-reference old part numbers when i asked him for R31, but then later when giving me a demo of the software we found that the R32 listing had the Australian-Compatible part number)

• Timing Belt - I reccomend using the genuine nissan timing belt because it has markings for the cams/crank that match up - no dramas when it comes time to put the new belt on. Also remember that with everything off, even if something moves, each gear has a small dot on the face of one of the gear teeth which will line up with lines (in the case of the cams) and a little groove (in the case of the crank gear).

• White Out - I found it was helpful to mark all of the timing marks etc with white out to make them highly visible when i was putting the belt on.

• Other Tools - You'll need Sockets, Spanners in sizes 8,10,12,14,16,17 (off the top of my head) as well as a 5mm allen/hex key, pliers...

Many like to change the cam seals and crank seals while doing the belt, so keep that in mind if you have a few dollars spare - it will probably save you some future dramas

I hope that this guide takes some of the stress out of your timing belt change.

Regards,

Jacek

RB30E

Crank Bolt

File:Cambelt crank bolt.jpg

If you didn't follow the advice above, and are without a rattle gun, put a block of wood here, and brace the breaker bar on it. Pull the lead off the ignition coil to stop the engine starting, then crank the motor very briefly. Voila - loose crank bolt! At the end you tighten the bolt up again, very firmly by hand with the breaker bar, or possibly with a torque wrench if you're excitable (car in gear). Grease this bolt (well, grease all bolts) before you put it back on, and you'll get it off easier next time. Do not use Loctite on this bolt. Loctite on crank bolts is a common cause of them coming loose. What happens is that the Loctite can bond before the bolt is fully tight, so the bolt appears to be tight, but isn't in its final position. Vibration and heat break the Loctite, then the bolt comes loose, and the pulley comes loose. (There are very few places to use Loctite, one place where it is useful is to keep studs in place.)

Harmonic Balancer Puller

File:Cambelt puller.jpg

This is a Super Cheap Auto puller, about $20. Can pay $80, $120 elsewhere for something similar, but pointless to do so. None of the harmonic balancer pullers (including the most expensive) that I've seen include the right bolts for the RB bottom pulley. The pulley has 2 M6 holes tapped in it, which is really small considering the enormous force that will be applied to it. So as noted above, you must get some M6 bolts - if you come home without them, you will be going out again. I got M6x75 high tensile cap screws, and stacked 4 panel washers under each to support them on the puller. High tensile is a good idea because if you used a lesser bolt and pulled the thread off it when trying to get the pulley off, you would be mildly upset, and might set fire to the car. Also before you put the puller on, work the bolts in and out of the pulley holes with some lube to clean up the holes, and ensure you can get the bolts properly inserted before applying pressure - you want as much engaged thread taking the load as possible. Apply some wheel bearing grease to the puller's main thread too. If it's really difficult, give the pulley a few hard taps with a hammer, while the tension is on, to try and unseize it. When the pulley is off, check the condition of the rubber, make sure the inside is still bonded to the outside. When the pulley goes back on, grease the shaft, again to make life easier for the next poor bugger.

Other Tips

File:Cambelt on.jpg

Clean everything as it is exposed, and before/after it comes off. Carby/Brake cleaner and a brush is very good. Have lots of rag available.

Definitely change the cam and crank seals if you can. They are most likely 20 years old, as hard as rock, and no longer qualify as seals. The crank seal is pretty hard to access, because you've got to get the timing belt sprocket off first, which will require some controlled force with some pry bars.

The timing belt doesn't need much tension, but it probably needs more than the tensioning spring provides (20 year old spring?), if you were to lock the tensioner in place where the spring pushes it to, you could probably take the belt off by hand, so use a bit of judgement. If you can half twist the main run, you're probably in the region.

The price for a Nissan tensioner is ridiculous, I got a Japanese NSK tensioner 13070-42L00 (almost identical, except better spring retainer) for $27, retail is $45. Gates timing belts are as good as anything, have the right timing marks, and can be found for around $30 retail (although for some inexplicable reason I used a Nissan belt which was twice the price). The cam and crank seals are the same, I got some from Daymans, 1304216V00 $25, $29 retail.

The new water pump probably won't come with studs, so you use two nuts locked against each other to get the studs out of the old water pump. A bit of Loctite to retain the studs in the new water pump wouldn't go astray.

Contributors: Jacek, prestagea