I am doing a timing belt, i marked the old belt before i took it off and, the new belt when i put it on has the crank and right cam lined up perfectly and the left cam is off a little less than half a tooth. I counted the teeth and they are the same between the crank and both cams on the "pulling" side of the belt, the right side. Guess I could count the slack side as well this morning......

The thing is, the old timing belt was loose between the cams on the water pump and tight the rest of the way around. The new one, is tight everywhere. I have counted teeth and they are right so i think its good to go, but i want to make sure i am not missing something since this is my first mitsu timing belt.

one note, first attempt with new belt had both cams out one tooth, when taking off the belt to realign the left cam spun on me from valve tension so i had to put the old one back on to line everything back up, in case this matters.

 

searchy searchy

 

All went well, i spun it around a few times by hand and it ended up being about a 1/4 tooth off on the one cam after all said and done. I spun it to make sure there was no interference so that it wouldnt hurt if something was off when i fired it up. Well, Fired up on first try and runs good. Note: The noise that i heard before that sounded like a loose heat shield is a little worse now, i think its the tensioner. I didnt have the tensioner wrench so i made one and think i was a bit off on the tension torque setup. Bought in an adjustable spanner, about 10 bucks more than the mitsu special tool, so i can use it for other stuff and will retorque it saturday. I am detailing this all out in case someone else runs into this stuff. Another note, i didnt have to remove anything but the timing belt covers and the engine mount. I did not remove the right tire like some suggest, it just isnt necessary. Replaced water pump, idler, tensioner pulley, and auto-tensioner. If your on the fence on replacing the tensioner, Definately do it. I am a mechanical engineer and, well that thing is just a couple of compression springs that apply force to the belt, and as everyone knows, springs "wear" out. Dont skimp on parts either, get OE, I found a decent place online that was about half of what most are selling for. I did have to go with ASIN for water pump, they are great so no worries. Good luck

 

I need to save money I am on ss would appreciate any help on buying parts. Thanks Glenn. Theolitas@bellsouth.net.