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Discussion starter · #22 ·
I knew last night that the timing wasn't right. Seems a little more than obvious anyway.

Yes gamma I rechecked and it was retarded by 2 teeth, not cool LoL.

I cannot be certain why it would jump that much, entirely possible that I jacked it up from the start. But why did it run awesome for a mile or so then turn to garbage. I'm chalking it up to WTF and I spose it doesn't really matter. Reset TDC, and reset the timing belt and once again it's running great.

All without a video, imagine that. VCT solenoid remains unplugged and engine light remains ON :p

Don't care, not even a little bit. It's just extra dashboard illumination right now. In case anyone wonders, it was the bottom idler pulley that caused all the trouble, I found it (plus the bearings) in little pieces inside the protective shroud (under the crank).
Not to mention little pieces of plastic melted to the tensioner and 2nd idler pulley. What a mess.
 
Discussion starter · #23 ·
Btw FordMan, I didn't use a purchased tool for the alignment. I used a couple of spare door hinges.

Sure there is room for 1 continuous piece of flatstock or angle iron. I had a couple of exterior (House) door hinges just sitting there.

I dunno if you have ever had just a hinge in your hand but you can fold them flat in one direction, if you try to flip them the other direction it will make a V and you cannot push them further. (I'm rambling here)....

Anyhow I folded em both flat so the metal is doubled up and they fit Perfectly, not to mention they bridged across the head quite nicely; no movement from the cams at all. An interior door hinge has thinner metal plus they are a tad smaller, not certain if they would work. If you want I can give the exact dimensions of the hinges.

While folded together the hinges are 3.5" X 2"
Total thickness is 3/16" Heavy (perhaps about 1/128th more) - Can't find my Mic sorry.
 
Glad it was something fairly easily fixable. I have found that the TB length from the top mid of the cam gears should be 14 teeth...it's easy to put the belt on and have that distance 15 or 16 if the tensioner is really loose giving a lot of slack. If this is the case, the belt can hop a tooth or two usually when you give the car some WOT..runs fine at idle, part throttle but when you goose it, off goes the timing. Door hinge..good deal...also the large angle irons (10") at Lowe's is 3/16" wide..cut off one side and you've got a deal cam lock tool.
 
gamma500 said:
Glad it was something fairly easily fixable. I have found that the TB length from the top mid of the cam gears should be 14 teeth...it's easy to put the belt on and have that distance 15 or 16 if the tensioner is really loose giving a lot of slack. If this is the case, the belt can hop a tooth or two usually when you give the car some WOT..runs fine at idle, part throttle but when you goose it, off goes the timing. Door hinge..good deal...also the large angle irons (10") at Lowe's is 3/16" wide..cut off one side and you've got a decent cam lock tool.
 
Discussion starter · #26 ·
Total time spent actually working on this wasn't to bad. Every day I waited until afternoon to start. Temps are crazy cold right now, no garage, air tools freezing up a bit. I quit everyday at about 5:00pm just before the sun went down.

If I were to subtract the amount of time I spent allowing the tools to warm up, not to mention the time I spent warming up. Trying to figure out how to put the cam alignment tool took only a few seconds, so all in all I didn't waste to much time.

Hard to determine exactly, but in the summer time I could do this in about 3.5 to 4.5 hours. Really wasn't to bad, weather not withstanding.
 
IR_Efrem said:
"No topics or posts met your search criteria"

Error every time I tried to search for something. I tried the following searches before asking the question.

"ZX2 timing belt replacement" got the above message
"Zx2 timing belt" got the above message
"Zx2" got the above message

I can only assume that the search function is crapped out, I tried again today with just "ZX2 timing belt" and got 200 pages as a result, the HOW-TO wasn't on the first page. I clicked "next" on the bottom and got the above error message. Again I will assume there is a problem with the search function.

Yep me dumb and lazy. Personal attacks make you cooler and more knowledgeable than everyone here, you have proven that. I never saw a single link showing anyone a single thing about where the text information is.

Have fun folks in the end I didn't need to even come here and ask anything but I will continue to share what I have figured out on my own in case some one else has a similar problem.
You are the one that called my video 'crap'. That is an attack and it makes you look like an ass. I went looking and it turns out that my timing how-to isn't on this site. My ATX to MTX swap and 3rd gen drum brake service is. That still doesn't excuse you because you still could have looked on Team ZX2. You don't even have to search because the Knowledge Base is broken down into groups. Yes, that makes you lazy. Anyone confident enough to attempt this repair can figure out the cam slots are offset and can only lock one way. The how-to I wrote even gives you the demensions for making your own tool from flat bar stock. The how-to even shows you how to set the timing with the crank pulley off. Imagine that, you re-figured out something. It would all be easier in the end to look for the info on a website instead of tooling around on the car. It is a good thing it is a non-interference engine.
 
What I want is someone that doesn't know a damn thing about me to not attack something I worked very hard to produce. That is only half the problem. Even after saying that, you didn't pay any attention to the advice (where to find the how-to) that I gave and only talked about the link to Ebay.

I'll try to keep this simple so it doesn't turn into a drama thread. I'm a disabled veteran. My back and neck got all kinds of FUBAR during my service. It is extremely difficult for me to work on my car. It takes me 3 times longer to do repairs now then it did just 5 years ago. I've wrote a lot, A LOT, of how-to's. I've never had any of them attacked like this (don't get me wrong, they have been criticized and I've fixed issues with them to make them easier to use) much less called 'crap' sight unseen.

I could see where you are coming from if I posted, "You are too dumb to do this, buy my video you idiot." I did not post that. I posted the video in case you wanted it and then I followed that up with where you could find the FREE text version of the video. I never said you had to buy anything if you wanted me to help you. I'm not sure why you got a bug up your ass about me posting the link to the video in the first place. It is like you took offense to me linking you to Ebay.
 
Maybe he was a bit stressed out about the TB job not working out the first time around. In fact, with the way things are going re: job security, income and savings taking it in the butt, et. al., everybody seems wound up. I got your video for the same reason I have a shelf full of Haynes, Chiltons, factory manuals along with parts CD's ...to confirm, reconfirm, or newly inform me of things I probably already know and could figure out.

I'm not sure why he started out with the "is this allowed here" ....most folks would love to hear there is a video of what most consider one of their more worrisome DIY's. $13.00 isn't exactly a rip-off and we can all remember seeing posts that refer to so&so offering HID kits or whatever when someone has asked a question about how to install them

Let there be Peace and Tranquility amongst all Brothers.
 
Discussion starter · #33 ·
gamma500 said:
You are correct the cam sensor/crank sensor will "sense" the correct cam ignition phase if the belt is broken and the cams are put back in either "TDC" setting as far as #1.
This one line answered the only real question that I had. The rest is cake and easy to determine. Now lets keep in mind here that my only real question could be answered in only a few words. My original question was a very simple one.

You want me to take you at face value but you never once considered my question at face value. Your answer was do a search here, and I did before I asked the question. Your second answer was do a search somewhere else. Well why would I do that? I came "here" not somewhere else. Not to mention that I spent a good amount of time searching in several locations, including plain google searches, there was however no answer that made sense 100% as to my specific question. I am not new to searching the internet but this one point wasn't netting me the results that I wanted. Your third answer was, Buy my how-to video. It seems you edited that original response.....

I wish I could say that I was sorry to you but I cannot. Not out of principle or because I cannot admit when I am wrong, but because I am not sorry. I said "sell his crap" not "This crappy video." Which I will agree is just simple semantics and can be taken a couple of different ways and illicit several emotions and/or responses. I do not know a thing about your video and cannot make a call about how good it is or is not; that I will admit. BUT, you were indeed trying to sell me your crap. I got some crap to, do you wanna buy it? *much of it is very useful, but it's still crap* I never once needed a how-to and I never asked for it. I am not retrofitting the space shuttle with extra booster rockets. I am changing a timing belt on a car without a distributor cap.

If I had never posted here at this site, my car would still be running because I figured it out for myself. I asked the question here more-or-less to ensure something that I was already aware of. Tell "Me" to "learn how to read", go back and read my original post *carefully*, you will notice that I guessed the answer before I knew unequivocally.

In response to your name calling and arrogance well if it makes you feel better then have it. I am stupid, retarded, and lazy yep yep. I knew in advance that the engine was non-interference and I couldn't mess it up so I didn't mind having to reset the timing if I didn't get it right the first time, really it only takes a couple minutes to do so.

If I pushed your buttons and got you upset, oh well. Just remember, you aren't the only one with buttons. So what if I may or may not a problem with ebay, it's full of crap (you have looked around that place haven't you?) So now I am sitting here wondering why you have a bug in your bum, you took me in a manner that I never meant. I took you in a manner that you never meant. You wont apologize, neither will I. You will defend your stance and so will I.

I do NOT know a single thing about you at all, well perhaps a little more now. Your original answer could have been "yep the sensors take care of firing order" (instead of the distributor of course) That could have been the end of this thread. You made an assumption about my abilities so I responded in the same exact manner. I made an assumption about why you responded to me in the way you did.

Just so you know exactly what I was thinking: 1. You are trying to get me to sign up at your message board, 2. you think I am to lazy to search this site, 3. You only want to sell me something, 4. If he had the answer why not just post a simple link instead of me having to sign up at another message board to use the search feature.

These are not unreasonable thoughts at all, especially when you consider how often this type of crap happens. Notice how one thought plays on the other. I can't search the other site without signing up for yet another message board, so why not just toss out a link???? You didn't call me lazy for not searching ebay for the video - heck no - you provided a direct link for that.

So there you have it, my full reasoning and a bunch of rambling that wont make a difference in anyone's life at all.

I still love you man.
 
IR_Efrem said:
Well if this had a distributor I wouldn't be here asking silly questions....

As the title suggests my timing belt is toast. I have read and reread the haynes manual and it doesn't say ANYthing about resetting TDC after a belt has broken.

Does this mean just set the crank using the mark and use the cam-alignment tool, install new belt and I'm done?

I have the new idler, tensioner, belt, and valve cover gasket. Just wanna make sure that I set TDC properly.

After thinking about it it seems that the CPS and computer would handle the timing and spark but I am unsure of this one point.

Thanks in advance....
What you asked was how to set TDC after the belt was broken. This is the exact reason why I was urging you to search for my free how-to on doing the timing belt. You already knew, at least assumed correctly, that the computer would control the timing, that was not the question you asked. I don't like to directly link people for one reason. I find that many will gain more knowledge if they have to look a little for it. For instance, if you did go to the Team ZX2 knowledge base, you would also find many other helpful how-to's as opposed to only seeing the one I linked you to.

Simply for demonstration purposes: http://www.teamzx2.com/showthread.php?t=117
That is the how-to I wrote. You might actually notice you don't have to sign-up there to read it. Never have, never will. It shows you exactly what you asked to know in the first post. How to set TDC after a belt breaks.

You pissed me off by calling something I worked on crap and after me trying to help you at that. If you didn't mean it that way, then I'm sorry I called you a name.

But, you are contradicting yourself. You need to go back and carefully read what you asked. You just said that you only needed to know if the PCM controls the spark or if it'll set an error if done wrong. But, that is not what you originally asked. You originally asked how to set TDC if the belt breaks. I urged you to search for my how-to rather then type out something I've already put up on a site complete with pictures of how to do it.

You keep insisting that I was trying to sell you something. If that is all I wanted to do, I wouldn't have told you a free text version was available, now would I. You can say it all you want. Fact is, you jumped the gun and assumed way too much. You never even went to look at Team ZX2 so that kind of upholds the lazy claim I made. Why would I post a direct link to Ebay to my item and not link you directly to the how-to? I've already told you about why I don't like to directly link to a how-to. I would like to add to that, if I thought you were an idiot based on your first post, I would have directly linked you. But, you seemed smart enough to do some searching. The reason I directly linked you to the Ebay item is because if you pop 'ZX2' into the search there, you get 20 pages to sort through. My timing how-to is on the first page of the Knowledge Base section it belongs to.
 
Discussion starter · #35 ·
That is what I read, to me this means exactly what it says.

""Does this mean just set the crank using the mark and use the cam-alignment tool, install new belt and I'm done?""

Never mind that my crank pulley is completely missing the mark described by the stupid manual. Setting crank TDC is simple enough though.

This right here is a yes or no question *to me*. Turns out the answer to my question was Yes. If it was no then pointing out the how-to at yur msg board and finding it there would have cool.

Therein lies the distinction I suppose. I thought it was a simple question you thought I wanted to know more. Since you apologized I can do the same, I am sorry for assuming you were trying to sell me something, and for assuming that you thought I was an idiot. There are just so many punks and jerks out there, I am more than a bit jaded needless to say. I did not mean for you to think that I was calling your video crap, how am I supposed to make such a call?

Your site doesn't require registration for a search, not many places allow that. Unless something has changed. Then again I am not a forum rat, or even a person that frequents many forums, besides a couple of my favorites, both of those require registration to search, not to mention many that I have never signed up to because I didn't want to just to use the search.

Timing belt "how to" - netted me no results on your site.

ZX2 timing belt "how to" again no results.

timing belt - well I found the how to on page 4 at the bottom. It certainly helps knowing the name of the post title heh.

This is just simple searches without reading the topics and finding it that way. By reading the actual topics it was easy to find.

I hate to sound like a jerk at this point but I searched ebay and found your video immediately, and at the top of the page, in fact it was the only result for "zx2 timing video". And no, I never clicked on the link from your original post to determine the name of your product. BTW you aren't charging enough for it but hey it's your video, especially if it contains information as good as there is on the how-to.
 
"Does this mean just set the crank using the mark and use the cam-alignment tool, install new belt and I'm done?"
See, I took this meaning that you wanted to use the mark that doesn't exist. So the answer I would have given would be no. This is why I wanted you to look at the how-to. At least now you know where a bunch of how-to's are.

I'm glad we got this cleared up.
 
I am replacing the vct and I have snapped 2 cams. I had it together once but forgot assembly lube. When I bolt down the bearings/journal pieces in the specified order it breaks the cam. What could I be doing wrong?
Your head could be badly warped or something isn't seating properly. Did you install the bearing caps in the original order and orientation? Also, what lead you to replace the VCT in the first place?
 
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