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The timing belt job was about a 5 on a scale of 1-10 degree of difficulty for me. 10 being a clutch and tranny job on an Isuzu diesel pick-up years ago. 1 is checking the oil.
The only thing that frustrated me was I spent way too much time worrying about getting the belt on the exact tooth on the exhaust cam gear and trying to keep the tension between the exhaust and intake gears. I discovered that there will be a little slack in the belt between the two gears when the marks are lined up and you have not put the tensioner back in. This is true even with the bungee cord required in the Bay 13 instructions. The tensioner takes all of the slack out and everything is fine. I changed the order a bit. 1.) I put the tensioner back in. 2.) Waited for it to expand. 3.) Installed the new spacer. 4.) Rotated the engine two full revs. 5.) Checked the position of the alignment marks. All good, re-installed everything else in the Bay 13 order. Bay 13 says to rotate the crank 2 turns as the tensioner is expanding. I think that you may be more likely to skip a tooth without the tension than with. Maybe I am reading the directions incorrectly. I also put in a new serpentine belt at the same time. That was like a 5 min. exercise.
I did not experience a problem with working the old timing belt off around the rubber stand-off behind the crank pulley. That part went quickly.
I will let you know how things go as the car ages. It only has 70K now. I have an 87, 740 GLE with over 175K. I did the shocks and struts on it before Christmas. One of the strut cartridges was rusted into the strut tube. No way to get it out. I trashed the whole tube and got a used assy. from a junkyard for $70. I installed the new Bilstein touring strut cartridge and my rotor. The car rides great! Good cornering also. Got the struts and shocks from Shox.com. Great prices and fast service. Better price than IPD.
Cheers,
Allen
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