Timing Belt

[mellowness65]

I was going to, ford gave me the wrong part, I reused the old gear and returned ford's fuckup

[rtfm13]

I bought a nice timing kit from rockauto.com - they sent me Gates part# TCK294 for my '98 ZX2. It includes a belt, upper pulley, lower pulley, and tensioner. Now for the fun part.

For those considering a Gates timing kit, mine came with special instructions for consideration:

"Ford Escorts built after 2/9/99 must use TCK294A, and those built prior to 2/9/99 should use TCK294. Confirm idler pulley diameter is correct before opening kit. (Not required for TCK294B)"

BTW, opening the plastic makes the kit unreturnable. Fortunately, the special instructions make this clear (and they're packaged outside the wrapping).

The complete instruction sheet states:

"NOTE: The lower guide pulley may not be fitted to some models after 06/1999."

Now I'm confused. Before me I see a smaller upper guide pulley than what came in my box and no lower guide pulley. I bought my Z secondhand and the previous owner told me the engine was rebuilt. Sooooo, I'm supposing he meant the engine was swapped with a post 06/1999 build. OTOH, the tensioner was totally loose when I first examined it, which makes me wonder how the belt stayed on previous to my purchase or if dude knew which parts to put on at all.

The question I pose to the forum is, how can I tell what year my engine is? I don't believe the belt has changed at all over the years, just the pulley arrangement, so I'm going to try the new pulleys and see how well (or if) the belt goes on. I'm not sure why Ford would have made these changes, short of removing an unnecessary lower pulley or changing the cam or crank sprockets.

At worst, I could buy another upper pulley which matches what I have here and just use the tensioner and belt from the kit...

Eh, whatever. Let me know what you think.

[Duckiestyle]

Sounds like you have a viable plan. Try it and see.

Any way of contacting the former owner?

[mellowness65]

http://www.teamzx2.com/showpost.php?...5&postcount=10

[rtfm13]

Thanks mellow! My upper idler has an 8mm bolt, so it's gotta be a later head. Good to know.

[larryj54]

I am ambiguous on the ambiguities of this particular thread, but I DID purchase the same Gates kit from Rock Auto for a GREAT price and it all went Purrrrfectly. So I just add my positive cosmic vibes for a good solution for you.

[mellowness65]

Thanks mellow! My upper idler has an 8mm bolt, so it's gotta be a later head. Good to know.

anytime

[rtfm13]

Ok, my Gates timing kit instructions tell that in most cases, the adjustable exhaust timing does not reset to its original position. I must loosen the exhaust cam gear tighten the bolt slightly, rotate the cam gear hub fully counterclockwise, then line up the "hole" and the "large lug of the cam gear" at 12 'o clock. My exhaust cam gear doesn't have a large lug and I can't identify a hole of any sort. The closest thing I could find was in my Chilton's manual, which simply instructs me to align the tab on the cam gear in the hole on the thrust bearing.

Do I need to worry about resetting the VCT? It seems to me the hub and cam gear just rotate freely.

[ZX2Fast]

I've found that there is no need to reset the VCT unless the belt broke or jumped time. To do it properly, you have to remove the VCT gear and on the back of the gear you will see the tab and on the front of the cam you will see the hole. Put the hole and tab at the top and re-install it.

[00zx2s/r]

Is it possible for someone to get me a picture of the tab on the back of the exhaust gear? Mine had been bent from previous buying car and trying to bend it back the whole ring popped off, so I need to know its location for punching it back on.

[rtfm13]

Sorry, man; I already put my new belt on. I'd try to find an exhaust cam gear at a JY if it came apart. New is like $250.

[ZXTool]

I've found that there is no need to reset the VCT unless the belt broke or jumped time. To do it properly, you have to remove the VCT gear and on the back of the gear you will see the tab and on the front of the cam you will see the hole. Put the hole and tab at the top and re-install it.

True. I guess maybe for piece of mind you might want to do it. I was worried about it myself when my belt broke/jumped, but I still didn't reset the vct gear and just put the new belt on.

The car started right up and has already ran fine for almost a year with no problems.

So who knows. But the instructions really stress how important it is, but it's hard to tell.

[s14kev]

I did mine this weekend. Ridiculously easy job with about which took ~2hrs for a first timer. A few points i picked up which may help others are:
- The upper and lower idler pulleys are a T50 torx. The camshaft pulleys are a T55 but you should not need to touch this if just replacing the belt.
- Buy a new torx bit if yours are at all worn. Whoever invented torx fasteners should be shot. I had no prob but it may save you a trip to borrow a welder.
- Loosen the middle timing chain cover (also has a serpentine belt idler pulley attached) to help slide the lower idler pulley on if you are replacing it. This is held on with three 8mm bolts. The replacement idler comes with a bolt which is staked to the pulley and slightly more room is needed to install it since the bolt and pulley are attached.
- I have a 98 model and reused the lower crank sprocket. After inspecting it i saw no reason to replace it.
- The TDC peg shown in the service manual is not required. Save your cash.

Big thumbs up to jrqf for the truevalue hardware cam locking tool. It fits perfectly and best of all I returned it for a full refund after *"er um, no maam, i bought the wrong size, can i have a refund?"*

[NighthawkZX2]

so yeah how do you take off the timing pulley, i.e. idlers, and tensioner? do i need to use an impact?

[ZXTool]

so yeah how do you take off the timing pulley, i.e. idlers, and tensioner? do i need to use an impact?

Nope, no way to get an impact in there for those. The only thing the impact will help you with is the crank pully.

The bolt on the tensioner got me. It was on there so tight and I had to support the engine with a jack/wood block and remove the passenger side motor mount and alternator to get leverage to not strip the thing.

Other than that, the job was pretty easy and smooth. Just time consuming and I did it slowly and patiently. I prefer to do this only once every 100,000.

Here are some pics of what I went through:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kevin-z...7601574010291/