Im at the point of head gasket replacement where Im ready to set the timing.I have crankpulley set at 0,#1 piston top dead center and have set the cam gears to theyre notch marks on the rear timing cover.I have the pin on the hydrolic tensioner pinned back.Now do I put the timing belt on the crankpulley teeth first and work my way counterclockwise to the drivers side cam gear and get belt teeth on and continue to the passengers side cam gear get belt on those while holding tension on previously aligned teeth then release tensioner pin?

 

Sure, that'll work. It really isn't that difficult. You just want to be sure that the three sprockets are lined up (relative to each other) when you release the tensioner. It's okay to rock the cams back and forth a bit to get the belt onto them. Remember; you will be okay, or you'll be off by at least one whole tooth. You're not measuring thousandths.

Then turn the crank two turns back to zero. The cams will be pointing up again. If they're off by one whole tooth, start over. If you marked the timing belt (or got one that comes with marks), don't worry about where they end up after you turn the crank.

 

Be sure the is NO SLACK between the two cam gears or the drivers side cam gear & the crank pulley. ALL slack should be on the tensioner side. It's common to have on extra tooth of belt between the two cam gears as you actually have to cock the passenger side cam back a half-tooth to take out all the slack.

 

Thanx guys for the help.

 

Not to thread jack but to revive this, and compile 3vze timing belt questions, let me have something clarified...

When replacing the timing belt as long as you have the crank at 0* (given your crank gear is set right) You shouldn't have to make sure that you're at cyl#1 TDC, because at 0* you're either going to be top dead center at #1 or #4 either of which will be fine for timing purposes yeah?

 

You're at TDC on both 1 and 4.

What? The spark plugs don't fire at the same time, do they? No, they don't. Because they don't fire every time the piston is at TDC, only every other time. So how do you know if #1 is at TDC before the power stroke or before the intake stroke? You don't, and you don't care, because "which" TDC #1 is at is not set until you connect the cam to the timing belt. Then you magically "set" #1 before the power stroke, and #4 before the intake stroke by following the instructions.

 

HA! "magically". Sarcasm comes free on the forums huh? :O). I got that it's as easy as lining up the marks on the cam and crank pulleys. However, I now can see it make sense, picturing both 1 AND 4 at TDC at the same time. Thanks Scope. I was picturing an off balance engine...making a simple design way too complex.