If you have nothing better to do, take a few moments to read this short narative. I just finished with a somewhat involved headgasket/seals/clutch/transmission service on a friend's '89 740 Turbo (B230FT). We were swapping M46 trannys and flywheels with ones in better condition, installing a new clutch and plate, swapping heads with a better one (resurfaced and not missing any exhaust studs), and replacing every oil seal on the engine. Hopefully he'll get another 200,000 miles out of the engine before it needs any significant work done. During much of the project, I was working alone, and this also seems to be the most likely time that mistakes happen.

Due to the level of involvement, the B230 engine, M46 tranny, and drive shaft were removed from the car during the course of the work. With the engine out of the car, installing a timing belt should be a piece of cake. -right? Especially if you've done this before. -right? With a Haynes and Bentley book on the bench next to the engine, and white alignment marks on the timing belt, you'd almost have to be blind to mess this up. -right?

Needless to say, when I turned the key to start the car (after reinstalling the engine) it cranked but didn't start. Fuel and spark were good, but for some reason it refused to fire up. With some fogging oil through the spark plug holes, I compression checked it and got an even 12 psi in all 4 cylinders. Thinking to myself, "That's unusal, the fogging oil probably isn't thick enough and it must be blowing past the rings," I proceeded to drench cylinders 2 and 3 with Valvoline 90 weight gear oil in an attempt to get a sufficient seal to bring the car to life. After another unsuccessful no-start, I wondered if the valves in the re-surfaced head were sticking in the open positions. Using the pink wire by the battery to remote crank the engine, I watched the cam lobes and valve buckets through the oil filler cap. After a couple of revolutions, I stopped it at TDC, and noticed the camshaft was advanced by 45 degrees. ARGH!!!

After a moment of frustration and the realization that I had to completely remove the timing belt to correct the problem, I set to work. The repetition of performing a job increases the speed at which you work, and now I know I can do a Timing Belt in under an hour (given proper tools and no problems getting in or out). Finally, I turned the key and the engine fired up. I had momentarily forgot about the 90 weight gear oil in cylinders 2 and 3, and within a few seconds the garage was flooded with thick blue smoke, reminicent of the kitchen fires of my childhood when my father would leave popcorn oil heating on the stove. I shut off the car, pushed it out of the garage, and then ran it for 10 minutes to clear the cylinders and burn in the new gaskets.

Many of you are wondering "Didn't he get some sort of clue when he compression checked it?" Yeah, I should have. I just assumed that I put the timing belt on correctly, but it apears that I must have missed something when lining up the cam and crank. For tasks like these it's helpful to have an assistant or someone working along side you to check your work, and thus avoid redoing it later. -Not that we need to hear about me removing the transmission after discovering I had installed the wrong throwout arm and couldn't operate the clutch...

Measure twice and cut once. God bless everybody,
Fitz Fitzgerald.
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'87 Blue 240 Wagon, 250k miles.