Cam Belt, And Cam Swaop - How Long To Do?

[martyn180 9]

How long should a novice mechanic take to do a cam belt change, and swap the cam at the same time??

have a haynes manual, and plenty of tools, but never done it before

[dcc 855]

If the engine is in situ, you would be looking to spend an entire day, be sure to account for mix ups, lost bolts and nuts, bolts that wont want to undo, and to correctly time the engine! my first belt swap took me 6 hours, start to finish!

 

swapping a cam over will take you a matter of minutes as its just a few bolts which are very easy to get to!

[Miles 331 1 Cars]

8 or 16v?, If a 8v you will need to re-shim the cam

[martyn180 9]

8v miles, I was going to get a few shims in before hand to give me a fighting chance,will try and borrow a selection from Shenpar. Have SBC roadpsort cam to put in. Only expect a couple of bhp with a standard head, but if we are doing the belt it seem not a massive extra chore. Would like to do the stem seals, but not sure how to get the collets back in. Was going to do the rope in the spark plug trick.

[hexhamstu 9]

8v miles, I was going to get a few shims in before hand to give me a fighting chance,will try and borrow a selection from Shenpar. Have SBC roadpsort cam to put in. Only expect a couple of bhp with a standard head, but if we are doing the belt it seem not a massive extra chore. Would like to do the stem seals, but not sure how to get the collets back in. Was going to do the rope in the spark plug trick.

if your taking the head off would definately do the stem seals then, instead of the rope down the spark plug hole!

[martyn180 9]

Dont want to take the head off,my luck would be to shear a head bolt, and dont want that hassle this close to show season. If money was no object would drive it to shenpars, but works not busy enough at the moment to find the spare cash

[omega 82]

think you should also change the waterpump at the same time

maybe we should have a midlands cambelt day

[hexhamstu 9]

Taking the head off is only a few bolts, the timing belt is the hardest part.