ca18det cam pulleys not lining up

[fifi]

a bit of a weird one, purchased an s13 ca18det without the timing belt, was running before the belt slipped of, so im trying to do the timing on the car i managed to get the crank to its correct top dead position.

my problem is when i bring the inlet and exhaust cam pulley to there mark according to the pulley and the mark on the back plate, they slip either up or down, caused by tention to the camshafts by lifers underneath. Is this normal or should they stay in position for me to be able to slip the belt in.

[jay1017]

Its normal that they slip, it creates tension on the belt


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[fifi]

So how to you keep them in place? Molegrips on the camshafts?

[skyshack]

Monkey wench on the pulley spoke.

[ianlea73]

On the cams between the lobes there is a spanner position. I used 2 spanners held by a mate, one on each cam while I slid on the belt.

[skyshack]

That would be making work. Another 24 bolts to remove and refit along with removing all the breathers. You have to remove them completely to replace the RTV that seals the rear 1/2 moons and the front corners, else they leak. The back breather hose that goes down to the block is difficult to remove, it runs hot and rubber gets harder so bonds to the cam box stub better than the upper breathers so its much more likely to split. You can't push it on a bit more so it compresses and expands to break the seal. It's easy to slice when refitting. It's more than doubled the cost as it's no longer a one man job and takes 1/2-1 hour longer to do. Been there done all of that in 180K miles, 3 cars and 4 engines and I've still got a bit of garden hose on one of the cars.

[ianlea73]

Just saying how I've done it in the past!

[fifi]

Cheers guys just waiting on a tensioner spring to come in for america as couldnt find one in the uk so i can start putting the engine back together, fingers crossed the valves arent bent lol

[pointz]

10mm socket through exhaust pulley onto bolt that fixes back plate, don't worry about the marks just count the teeth!