Car SOS curious cambelt change...

[Cuplica]

Essentially, they cut the old belt in half along the length of it, then took the outer half off, so the cams didnt move at all. They then slid the new belt on, took off the other half and pushed the new one all the way on...

Apparently it negated the need for an expensive belt change... has anybody tried this and not affected timing at all on their Clio?

 

[Jekyll]

That does not sound right!

 

[Mike@Rentech]

Err have a look on ebay for cowboy boots and give me a pair !

 

[DaveDreads]

I saw that episode the other day and I did think that can't be right, especially on a Skyline.

 

[Mike@Rentech]

Don't even think about it on an F4R engine!

 

[BoatNonce]

What?

 

[car.crash]

It's how Renault do it

 

[Cuplica]

Haha! My thoughts exactly. But the cogs didn't move a MM. If you can actually cut the length of it there's apparently no need to re-time, or do anything other than take the cam-cover off...

Cowboy as anything! But it does make you wonder...

I'm also now wondering how many RB26 owners are going to try that.

 

[Daniel]

That's all well and good but considering most belt failures are due to the tensioners seizing, it's a pretty pointless effort.

 

[sam JFM]

^ This

 

[Cuplica]

Ah

 

[Cuplica]

Well in my temporary naivety, what if you oiled the tensioners... or resprung them, whatever they use....

 

[Dan@SJM]

They're plastic. They fatigue and break up.

Also, there's no way they managed to get the belt around the bottom pulley, so they'll have undone it. Which will have moved the crank without the cams.

 

[Cupman29]

They're plastic. They fatigue and break up.

Also, there's no way they managed to get the belt around the bottom pulley, so they'll have undone it. Which will have moved the crank without the cams.

Exactly this! Was just going to write that. Lol, love these pish talk threads.

 

[leeds_182]

Exactly this! Was just going to write that. Lol, love these pish talk threads.

Thats what they did on the show though...

 

[Cupman29]

Thats what they did on the show though...

On what car?

 

[Cuplica]

I spent seven years training as a mechanic at college too. You'd think I'd know all there was to know about this sort of thing. Silly me...

 

[Cuplica]

Wait, seventeen, not seven. And I'm only six

 

[Cupman29]

I spent seven years training as a mechanic at college too. You'd think I'd know all there was to know about this sort of thing. Silly me...

Seven years, you must have had to repeat a few years. Lol

 

[Cuplica]

Yeah I did seven years. I repeated the first one seven times then I was booted. I spent a further ten years as a supply tutor. My main lesson was cambelt changes on the fly.

 

[Cuplica]

It was on an R33 GTR Cupman.

 

[flebay]

 

[R3k1355]

Used to be the method of choice on doing the belt on old Renault 5's IIRC.
Thinking you can do it on a more modern engine now is pretty silly.

Trying it out on an RB engine is f**king stupid tho.

 

[Timmsy]

Yeeeeehaaa!

 

[Shocker]

I've seen belts done this way a few times , I thought this was a old secret mechanics trick

 

[Symon]

I think it would work ok on an old Pinto engined Ford Cortina/Sierra, but on a modern car with floating pulleys it is a bodge job.

 

[Cuplica]

Just did it and it's fine

 

[Cuplica]

By did it I mean paid £550 for Renault to do it...

 

[levaz]

The way in question is do-able, and I've done it myself but you run the risk of tensioner failure as it won't get changed.

Plus, it won't work on a F4R due to the lip on the exhaust pulley.
It only works on engines where you can slide the belt on/off without a lip on the pulley.

 

[LeeRS]

I tried this method with a condom....


It doesn't work.

 

[RS Charlie]

It depends on who you talk to

Used to be the method of choice on doing the belt on old Renault 5's IIRC.
Thinking you can do it on a more modern engine now is pretty silly.

Trying it out on an RB engine is f**king stupid tho.

I suggest you check this thread:

http://www.gtr.co.uk/forum/154628-how-do-cam-belt-service.html

It seems they time them up the old fashioned way.

It is iffy what Car SOS did but it is also the way many cambelts were changed. Just simply marks were how many were changed. Furthermore many people did not bother to change tensionsers in the disposable way that they did these days. With my last 944 I went to a specialist to enquire about a cambelt change who thought changing the tensioners was ludicrous. The Porsche service manual does not even mention timing up the camshaft on an S2 but I only know of specialist who does this.

My point is that whilst it is not the best way they changed it and left the tensioners it was still timed up in a correct fashion of sorts. Modern engines are a different breed when it comes to the older stuff. I guess getting the most out of the engine is one of the reasons why.

 

[R3k1355]

I'm not sure what point you're trying to make, it looks like a fairly normal belt change there??
If the RB is the same as the CA engine you usually count the teeth on each belt run to check it's timed up correctly.

Then slap it all back together and sort the ignition timing on the CAS out.

 

[RS Charlie]

I guess I got a little lost in all of the waffle!

What I was trying to say that while it was not the best way to go about changing the belt it certainly was not as horrific as some posters are marking out.

As said it looks similar to the CA18 .