s3 cambelt change tips

Jacko4130

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Hi guys,

Am in the process of buying a cambelt kit for my s3 its a 225bhp BAM model 52 plate, have fitted a few cambelts in the past but was after any tips people have for these engines, have also orderd a metal water pump.

Any advice would be great

Thanks
 
Make sure you dont put the old belt back on, i have seen this done in the past in the garage lol,,,,
seriously tho it aint that bad to do i fitted a metal water pump too when i done mine.....
 
Take your time is a good tip, so much stuff to take off to get to the cambelt on the S3, but with patience and a few mugs of tea, it's worth it.
 
This write up is pretty good, but to add my points, having just done the job myself:

Tensioner Damper:
The step which shows you screwing in a piece of threaded rod to depress the plunger is awkward on the car. Instead I unscrewed the pulley to remove the old belt, then removed the plunger and compressed as follows:

Place a "G-Clamp" upright in a vice in the vertical plane, then install the plunger in the clamp. Note - place a small socket over the end of the plunger, to stop it slipping out of the clamp when you compress it. Now slowly and steadily compress the plunger by “tightening” the wing-nut on the g-clamp until you can insert an allen key, through the holes in the damper body and plunger. Note – when compressing the plunger by rotating the clamps wing nut, only rotate the nut a little, then pause, then a little more then pause – remember you are applying tension. If the holes in the plunger/damper don’t quite align, you can rotate it slightly using long nosed pliers. Now, re-install on car and when ready to tension the belt, you pull out the pin/allen key.

I found this much much easier then the ‘on-car’ method described.

Only other points are - when aligning the TDC position, the camshaft is easy to see, but I always make my own tip-ex ref marks on the crank pulley/enginer and a dot on the cam pulley/engine. As much as anythign else, they stand out much easier.

Second, the belt was tight to get over the cam pulley, so I suggest only pushing the belt half on the crank, until you have got it up and aroudn the cam pulley.

I have done a lot of belts on a lot of different makes and woudl say this one is about middle of the road in terms of difficulty. The most annoying part for me was getting off the top of the timing belt cover and the engine mount bracket.

There are quite a few bits to move and come off, but I always keep the nuts/bolts/parts organised to make re-assembly easier.

Good luck.
 
Thanks guys, will be getting cambelt after the weekend and will give it a go...
 
Ok, I am in the middle of doing this to my AMK S3 and have most of the car apart and timing belt etc off (was great fun!!! NOT!) however, I have removed the tensioner damper and the rod doesnt move up and down at all... is this right or is it ********?

<tuffty/>
 

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