also, keep in mind that sometimes the timings off by a HALF tooth even from the factory. my marks were off a half tooth and I was going nuts. but with further research I seen its normal, and especially if you have aftermarket cams.

When retensioning your timing belt, make sure you can slide the grenade pin through the hole and it comes out the other side easily. If you cant slide that grenade pin back through the hydraulic tensioner you have improper tension and will result in abnormal belt wear or possibly timing jumping, or pulleys seizing up due to the added stress. You should turn the motor 5-6 times and then recheck to make sure the grenade pin can slide through easily.

The tensions the hardest part of the entire job, once you got that down its cake.

also take major precautions not to overtighten the tension on the balance shaft belt or the car will run like total **** as well. make sure you measure the tension before removing that belt, it should be very loose, you dont want to put ANY stress on that belt or your car will feel very crappy and held back.

 

Great post. The toughest part for me was actually getting all the marks to line up correctly. However, where there is a will - there is a way

 

I cant argue with that, because honestly when I did my timing belt on the evo I was following vfaq's timing belt tutorial and figured the timing belt was like a dsm where you set it one tooth off and when you set the tension it rotates back the tooth you set it.. well it doesn't work like that on the evo.. so i had to redo my marks 2 times. That was prob the longest part of the entire job, getting the marks to line up after the belt was under tension.

 

If you will put a paint mark across a tooth on each sprocket and onto the belt, then once the belt is off, transfer the paint marks to the new belt (stack them and keep all the teeth aligned), when installing the new belt there is no wondering whether the new belt should have slack here, there or not. When the belt is on and all the paint marks line up you are golden. Why nobody does this is beyond me. Without the paint marks you are eyeballing the timing marks and guessing where the tension and slack should be. Be off one tooth and you will know it at startup. Doing this job once is enough.

 

I totally agree. I used white paint to help me out. You only want to do this one time so make sure you do it right. Nothing worse than putting it back together and have to take it all back apart and redo it.

 

I used white paint as well but as you can see from my photobucket: http://s35.photobucket.com/albums/d1...timing%20belt/ paint is useless. The evos cam gear marks are sideways, and paint just skews the overall appearance once its all said and done. you're going to be off 1-3 degrees by TDC mark on crank regardless if you got aftermarket cams. PLUS aftermarket kevlar timing belt will not be the same as the regular one, you cant just line up paint marks and think you're done.. it wont work.

 

If you start out with a belt that is installed correctly and the car is running the way you wish then why wouldn't you want to make sure the replacement belt is installed the same. A Kevlar belt has the same number of teeth as OEM so it isn't any different in that regard. If you have the cam cranked to some degree of rotation other than stock and you want to maintain that then marking the belt is all the more important.

BTW, these marks don't have to be at the timing marks, only somewhere where the belt is on the sprocket. For example, at the oil pump the timing mark is between the belt but you can still mark the sprocket at the belt.

 

Using paint is the wrong way of doing it, if you cant line the marks up without paint marks you shouldn't be doing the timing belt to begin with. 5/10 guys that do timing belts don't set the proper tension on the hydraulic tensioner and think its right. You cant get the proper tension correctly without the special rod tool that sets a pretension on the hydraulic tensioner. Ive done 15+ timing belts myself only 1 on an evo but the others on DSM's which is also a 4g63 and very similar setup. ( evo timing belt job is 100% the same as 2g dsm)

The marks on the oil sprocket (a balance shaft) should be dead on, so should the marks on the cam gears, and the other bs pulley. The only mark that can be off is the crank sprocket. It can be off 1-3 degrees, but if you line all your marks up and somethings off other then the crank you arent set properly, and you will feel it in either spoolup or idle.

Also while I say the crank sprocket can be off, I mean when the actual crank pulley is attached to it and you're going by the TDC mark on the lower timing cover. my picture shows how far it can be off and you will still maintain 100% dead on timing.

 

I just posted something in the T-Belt how to. Hear it is again. Now I'm a noob but maybe this will help. What I did with the oil pump sprocket was line up TDC and put a 14mm gear wrench on the front of the sprocket, then lay the wrench across the front of the crankshaft sprocket so that the OP sprocket can't turn counter-clockwise. When you put the belt on keep the tension on the right side of the OP sprocket and it wont turn or slip. Once we did that it was easy.

 

also, i absolutely understand what you're saying, yes both belts are the same tooth count, so marking them in the same area SHOULD make the job easier, but it just didn't for me. it may have for me if i didnt retard the one cam 1 tooth off thinking it was like a dsm and would roll back into place after tension was set on belt, but instead of rolling back it stayed the same and that screwed me all up. The paint is just a handicap of reassurance that you got it set how you had the old one. I really cant say putting paint marks is bad, because why would it be bad? Its just extra reassurance the job was done right....

So to an extent i agree the paint marks should be done if you're a first timer or unsure of yourself and just want extra reassurance its on there right.

 

if your evos got low mileage the pulley wont even turn by itself anyways, but i see what you did, you just made sure it didnt move period which is as good as anything else.

 

The timing marks are clear enough. However, on an Evo 8 (my car) with stock cams the cam sprockets want to push together at the top. Once the belt is applied and clamped on they both want to push to the front at the top. So, the question arises, how many belt teeth on the oil pump side of the crank sprocket and how many on the tensioner side. With all the wild cams people are running now I can imagine other worse slack/tension problems.

So, yeah, it is easy to be off a tooth or two at the crank, that is, unless you have paint marks on the belt and sprockets. Then you can't get it wrong.

Yeah, tensioning is very important too. But, what I am just addressing here is getting the belt back on the same way it came off.

 

ya if you check above i did agree to the paint markings. my personal experience with my evo (which is also a evo8) the guy whoever did the cams had the belt way to tight so i had to redo everything regardless. I think its dumb how mitsubishi made the cam marks on the valve cover sideways, it just makes it more difficult for us to determine whats right and wrong. the dsm marks are much more thorough.

 

let me also add, i remember the intake cam being very easy to keep still, while the exhaust cam was a complete *****. the exhaust cam wanted to move, and I remember i used zip ties on a socket wrench and right above the headlights theres a circle hole punched out on our cars that you can put a zip tie through and keep it held there so it doesn't rotate on you.

 

Good idea, this is what I needed. As it was, as I was messing with the tensioner pulley, I looked down and saw that the belt had jumped a tooth at the crank. So, I put it back. This happened four times. Holding it in place up above would have avoided this hassle.