Cam Belts

Almost_Redundant

Hi. Overheard some colleagues at work the other day discussing how they go about changing a cam belt.

Seems that they just carefully slice the old belt down the middle, leaving half of the belt still attached and therefore holding all cogs in the correct position. The new belt is then offered up next to the old belt thus engaging half of the teeth. Then the old belt is simply cut away, and the new belt pushed home. No risk to mis-aligning cogs.

Seems too simple to be true, but never having done one myself i'm a bit cautious to give it ago without a little research. Can anybody spot any flaws / likely problems with this method? I would imagine the tensioner would need to be loosened a little to allow some slack for the new belt. Also if any other work like water pump replacement were to be carried out then this may not be possible.

Looking forward to the comments good or bad.

Thanks in advance.

vansboy

Yes, this is an old trick & can be done, sharp Stanley blades required!!

But most people would agree, that you no longer just change the belt, but replace as a kit, tensioners & all.

It's quite often worth changing the water pump, too, in lots of cases - for the extra piece of mind £20ish can buy - it's a good idea!!

VB

trigger_mike

vansboy is right, it it's highly recommend to change the whole kit as if you just change the belt the tensioner could go and snap the new belt leaving the engine knackered.

tomstickland

That's a really good idea, providing that the tensioners etc have been replaced previously. TBH, on the 8v engines I just mark the positions with White touch up paint and it's not big deal to line everything back up.