Well, I lose. I never thought anyone sane would attept to slip out a cam gear and slip in another one.

 

When is it recommended to change the timing belt? 60K?

 

It's really not hard to do. The importing thing to do is make sure everything is 'in time' by rotating the crank a few times to make sure the belt was put back on correctly.

 

I would just be worried the oil pump would misalign. Un checkable of course, the vibration would let you know.

 

The belt is held taught enough to hold the oil pump gear in place. The belt doesn't come off the pump gear, just the cam gears. There isn't that much slack for the belt to slide off without coaxing it. As long as you don't go turning the crank once the belt is off the gears, the oil pump gear should stay put along with the belt that's holding it.

 

That's exactly what I did. Apparently it worked. I put two pieces of masking tape on the belt to mark the proper positions for TDC on the cam gears. For each gear, my assistant held the belt taut while I removed the stock gear and slipped the new gear into place, being careful to line up TDC correctly (to the correct tooth on the belt).

After both new cam gears were in place (and zip-tied to the timing belt), we continued on with the EvoMoto instructions.

No lies here... I've got better things to do than lie here about my mechanical exploits.

 

Shortening the change interval slightly using the Mitsubishi belts is probably better insurance against piston/valve clashes than buying special belts.