[kikih]

Ok, Friday is D-Day! I'm pulling the old girl into the garage, and sometime (hopefully) Friday evening or Saturday it will emerge with new Timing belt, tensioner, Balance belt, tensioner, water pump, Variator kit, cam seals, starter..... wish me luck!!:thumbs:

 

[Cathal_H]

I wish you the best...

In fact I wish that the "new parts" you bought are the right ones, and when the job is done you have no "spares" left over....:thumbs:

Take photos for us too....

 

[Alfa155 TS]

im sure you know this being well experienced and all kiki but my only advice would be when you undo a few screws and remove whatever part it is you remove immediately screw back in the screws you just took out by a few mm, just saves you scratching your head wondering where all those screws and nuts n bolts go

 

[Dermo]

Good luck sir . and when youre finished the que starts behind me :thumbs:

 

[mo4]

Best of luck, at least you can take your time and know the jobs a good one :thumbs:

When removing the variator and the exhaust cam pulley it's best to remove the cams from the head first

 

[Guest]

Good man Ki Ki want me to make ya the tea and just swear at the car for ya I'm good at that

 

[kikih]

Thanks lads:thumbs:

 

[Red156Ti]

Kiki, assuming its the 166 your are referring to do you have the required cam locks, inlet & exhaust tools, variator removal tool & 2 types of tensioner adjusters? Is your engine TS or JTS?

If you run into trouble feel free drop me a PM.

 

[kikih]

I have a set of cam-locks, I dont have any of the other specialist tools but I've read its possible to do the job without them. I've been doing a lot of reading so I've decided to fit the variator kit without removing it from the camshaft or removing the camshaft from the engine.

 

[Dermo]

You dont need special tools KiKi ... youre already a SPECIAL person

 

[Dermo]

I have a spanner as well

 

[Dermo]

Sorry KIKI that was a rhetoric statement

 

[mo4]

I have a set of cam-locks, I dont have any of the other specialist tools but I've read its possible to do the job without them. I've been doing a lot of reading so I've decided to fit the variator kit without removing it from the camshaft or removing the camshaft from the engine.

Nice job if you dont have to remove the variator from the cam to fit the repair kit.
The locks are the only tools you really need , apart from two hands and a brain

You'll still need to remove the exhaust cam pulley to replace the seal. These can be tight and I would not recommend using the cam lock to hold the cam in place. Much better to remove the cam or to rig up some kind of clamp using the old belt on th pulley (without the cam lock attached)

HTH

 

[kikih]

Morning lads, Half ways through the job, water pump is fitted and the Variator is sitting on the bench disassembled. Ran into a good few problems yesterday but I think I'll do up a report with photos and post it up. One of the jobs I've to do this morning is replace the camshaft's oil seals, these are clamped in place by a machined piece of metal that is bolted down with 4 bolts onto the head. This proved very difficult to remove yesterday and in all the guides that I read none of them mentioned how to replace the oil seals. The machined piece of metal did not have a gasket so I suppose I should put a bead of instant gasket (I hope I have some if not I wonder if silicon would do?) If any of ye have done this before what would you suggest?

 

[mo4]

Did you get the bearing end cap off in the end?

If so then you should be able to easily remove the inlet oil seal, but as mentioned you'll need to remove the exhaust cam pulley to replace the exhaust cam seal.

When refitting the end cap I use semi-hardening gasket sealant, just a light film of it on both surfaces.

Make sure to clean off the surfaces well and clean around the dowels carefully or else it may be difficult to get a snug fit.

 

[kikih]

Yea I got the end cap off yesterday, both oil seals came out easily. The exhaust cam pulley bolt was "really tight" to remove it I refitted the old cam belt lined up all the marks, removed the cam locks. To hold the pulley I made up a 2ft long bar that I had drilled and fitted two bolts too, these bolts locked into the spokes of the pulley and using a 18mm ring spanner with a pipe over the end of it I was able to loosen it.
I didn't order variator bearing shells when I was getting all the parts (maybe a mistake) so I will just refit the old ones, the Variator wasn't all that rattly but the engine has 95,000 miles on it so I thought it best to do it.
I've had a look out in the garage and I dont have any gasket cement, would silicone do or would I be better off waiting until tonight when the wife gets home from work (she can pick up a tube of it today in the Motor Factors, I'm housebound as she has my van)

 

[mo4]

We're doing this in unison btw :lol:
I'm just refitting the end cap on mine right now!

If it were me I'd wait until I had the proper sealant, but then I'm a bit of a perfectionist.
I dont like using sealants that solidify because stray bits could get into the oilways. Maybe I'm over-cautious.
You can then use the same sealant on the cam cover lid seal if you haven't bought a new one.

BTW if you've put a grip through the spokes of the exhaust cam pulley I'd have a close look at the phase sensor after you rotate the engine by hand. I've broken one before doing it this way and so have other peeps from what I read.

Best of luck!

 

[kikih]

Im waiting for the sealant:thumbs: I can now see why people replace the whole variator rather than use the repair kit, getting the variator back together is some pain in the arse the spring needs to be kept compressed when reassembling, I used two pieces of builders line, the first attempt worked and the body slipped in after a couple of attempts, but the string was binding inside the variator so I loosened the body slightly so I could pull out the string, this allowed the inner cog to slip off the shaft... so I had to start over. The second attempt has gone on for an hour without being able to get both cogs to aline
Thanks for the tip on the phase sensor I'll check it before I finish, I've got two more twin sparks parked outside for spares if I'm stuck.

 

[Guest]

Again I can shout at it for you if you like or just swear at you Hope you get it sorted man let us know if ya need a hand.

 

[mo4]

Thanks for the tip on the phase sensor I'll check it before I finish, I've got two more twin sparks parked outside for spares if I'm stuck.

Actually the best thing to do is check the ring on the inside of the exhaust pulley - the one with the gap in it that the sensor reads.
Make sure you didn't bend this while clamping the pulley, becasue if it's bent it will destroy the phase sensor once the shaft rotates.

Did you get the variator rebuilt?