Cambelt change for a Caterham Sigma 1.6 Ti-VCT engine
Discussion
Inspired by the write-up https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&... I wrote this guide based on my 2010 LHD Sigma 1.6 EU4 which has a Ti-VCT engine.
I believe the 270 & 310 Sigmas introduced in 2015 also use the Ti-VCT so this guide should work for them as well. You can identify that it has Ti-VCT engine by the 2 camshaft control actuators situated on the front of the engine. Because the engine control unit dynamically adjusts the cam lobe angle, Caterham recommend the standard Ford alignment settings, unlike the non-VCT Sigmas for which Caterham retarded the intake cam by 6° from OEM.
There are a few different steps to access the cambelt compared to a ford FWD vehicle for example and I needed to remove parts of the cooling system to remove the alternator and the intake manifold to remove the starter motor.
Very important: The camshafts and crankshaft are a keyless fit. This allows for precise camshaft timing but it must be done with the crankshaft locked at TDC and the camshafts locked in place with the appropriate tool while the belt is removed and replaced. It is also important that the crankshaft pulley is torqued correctly so that it does not slip out of alignment.
You can find some resources online and probably a Haynes manual, but the Ti-VCT is not so widely known and most of the guides leave out some steps below. This guide is a little verbose, but it was my first cambelt change, so I took notes.
Special Tools:
Cambelt kit OEM Ford part no: 1780142. This including water pump and tensioner; nb some aftermarket kits include cambelt bolts and the crankshaft pulley bolt. This kit contains the belt, tensioner and pump which can be bought separately.
Ford OEM Cambelt kit 1672144 contains:
Other parts:
1. Remove bonnet and nosecone
2. Disconnect the battery ground cable
Remove auxillary belt
1. Loosen the four water pump pulley bolts while the belt is still tensioned. You may need to hold the pulley
2. Use a 15 mm spanner to twist the auxiliary belt tensioner so that the belt is loose enough to slide off the pulley; remove belt
3. Remove the water pump pulley bell, set aside
4. Remove the auxiliary belt pulley from the front of the engine; set aside
Remove front upper cambelt cover
1. remove the front upper cambelt cover. Once the bolts are removed and the front pulley removed, it should come off with some gentle prying with your hands. (note that the top centre bolt is longer than the others.)
Set the crankshaft at TDC and fix the camshafts in position
If you are going to use the Ford camshaft alignment tool, remove the camcover to gain access to fix the camshafts in place:
1. disconnect camshaft sensors plugs
2. disconnect camshaft control valves from head and put aside, wrap in paper towels
3. loosen captive bolts on the cam cover and remove camcover, set aside
4. remove the 4 spark plugs, set aside. (optional)
5. Put the transmission in neutral, and remove the TDC blanking plug from the front of the engine, starboard side, just above the sump. Insert the Ford TDC pin. Turn the engine clockwise until it engages with the pin. The engine is now at TDC.
6. check that the alignment tool fits into the back of the camshafts. If the camshaft alignment slots are not horizontal, remove the timing pin, rotate the engine clockwise 90 degrees, re-install the timing pin and turn the engine until it stops at the timing pin at TDC. Now the Ford camshaft alignment tool should slot in.
NB If you are using the Ford pulley alignment tool 303-1097 or equivalent, you do not need to remove the camcover: just turn the engine clockwise to TDC, fit Ford timing pin OEM Ford part no: 303-748, fit the cambelt pulley alignment tool between the two pulleys. If it doesn t fit with a little jiggling, remove the timing pin, rotate the engine 90 degrees clockwise, re-install the timing pin and turn the engine until it stops at the timing pin. Now the Ford cam pulley alignment tool should fit.
To access the cambelt, you need to remove the alternator and alternator bracket. The alternator is held to the bracket by 2 bolts and a stud. However the top bolt and stud securing the alternator may not clear the aluminium water rail which goes from the engine outlet to the radiator intake hose. So this water rail needs to be removed first. If you haven t drained the coolant already, drain the radiator to a clean container if you are going to re-use the coolant.
Remove water rail
Loosen the hose clamps securing the water rail on each end. Cut off any zip-ties, noting where they were. The water rail is also secured to the intake manifold by 2 bolts; one to the front of the intake manifold, and one at the back of the engine. To access the rear bolt, use a long extension underneath the throttle body. You may need to remove the throttle body to gain access, it is secured by 4 screws to the intake with T30 torx headed screws. You may need a bendy screwdriver to access one of the screws. Once the rail is free, pull it forward out of the engine, clearing the bracket by turning the rail.
Remove the alternator
Remove the alternator connector plug and the positive lead from the back of the alternator. The alternator is held to the alternator bracket casting with a bolt on the front face, and long bolt and an additional stud on the side. The alternator will not clear the chassis rails without removing the long stud. Loosen the front bolt and remove, remove the rear nut and slide the alternator towards the chassis rail. Use a Mole-Grip to loosen and remove the stud from the engine block. Now the alternator can be taken off and put aside.
Remove alternator bracket
Now the alternator bracket casting can be removed from the front of the engine. Remove the 4 bolts and set aside the bracket, noting which bolts go in which hole. The cambelt is now visible, but cannot be replaced without removing the lower pulley and cover.
Fit the Ford flywheel locking tool
Possibly you could loosen the crankshaft pulley with the car in 5th gear and the handbrake on to hold the flywheel in place, but mine would not budge. Also with this method, it will be difficult to torque the crankshaft pulley bolt correctly so I used the Ford /Laser flywheel locking tool to hold the crankshaft at TDC while removing the crankshaft bolt. This requires removal of the intake manifold to reach the starter motor.
Remove intake Manifold
1. Remove the two screws which hold the VCT oil control bar to the top of the manifold. Pull the oil control bar out of the way.
2. Remove the 7 bolts that hold the intake manifold to the head. Note that the 2nd bolt is longer than the others
3. Disconnect the breather pipe from the intake manifold
4. Remove the oil-dipstick assembly; be ready, these M5 screws are probably seized in the rivnuts; you might be able to reach the lower T20 Torx screw holding the bracket by leaning the intake manifold up to clear the chassis rail
5. detach any other cables/zipties
6. Remove the intake manifold, set aside
Install flywheel locking tool
1. remove the 3 bolts which fix the starter motor to the bell housing. You will need 8mm hex-sockets or allen key to remove these bolts. Pull the starter to the side.
2. Ensure the engine is at TDC from the steps above,
3. Install the flywheel locking tool.
4. Check that it properly engages by confirming that the crankshaft cannot be turned on the crankshaft pulley.
Remove the crankshaft pulley
With the flywheel safely locked in place, the crankshaft pulley needs to be removed to be able to remove the lower cover and to remove the cambelt itself.
I was able to access the crankshaft pulley with an extension bar, breaker bar and universal joint from the front of the car under the radiator, between the horns.
1. With the flywheel locked in place, use a long breaker bar to remove the pulley bolt. It may be useful to heat the bolt with a blow-torch and/or to hit the head of the bolt with a hammer break it free. Alternatively you can try to use an impact wrench with an extension bar and an impact u-joint.
2. Remove the pulley bolt. It is supposedly a stretch bolt and should not be re-used. Measure it. Mine was 80mm long, M14 which corresponds to Ford OE part no: 1677517. Many cambelt kits come with a new bolt.
3. Now remove the auxillary pulley and set aside
4. Remove the lower cover held on with 3 bolts. Set aside
Remove the belt tensioner & belt
1. Before you remove the tensioner, install a camshaft alignment tool or pulley locking tool; if you don't, the camshafts will rotate, but you can turn them gently using a 21mm spanner on the camshaft flats back to the correct position.
2. Remove the bolt holding the tensioner
3. Remove the Cambelt.
Replace the water pump
1. When you remove the old water pump, even if you have drained the coolant out of the radiator, there will still be some coolant in the pump. So put a pan under the engine to catch this coolant.
2. Remove the 7 bolts that retain the water pump.
3. Remove the pump and gasket
4. Fit a new pump and gasket, tighten the 7 bolts to 9NM (80 inch lbs)
Fit the new cambelt
1. Put the crankshaft pulley on the crankshaft
2. Put the belt around the crankshaft pulley and over the camshaft pulleys. There should be 12 teeth between the pulley marks I and O , with the belt tight across the camshaft pulleys. If the teeth don t slot into place, you may need turn the exhaust pulley back 1/4 a tooth with a 21mm wrench.
3. Install the cambelt tensioner onto the engine block, with the grenade pin on the left hand side. Tighten the tensioner retaining bolt to 25 NM
4. Pull the tensioner 'grenade' pin to engage the tensioner on the belt.
Install the crankshaft pulley bolt
1. Put the lower crankshaft cover back and bolt on to 9nm
2. Put the auxiliary pulley on the crankshaft
3. Install a new crankshaft bolt OEM Ford part no: 1677517
4. Remove the camshaft alignment tools if fitted.
5. The correct procedure is to tighten to bolt to 100 Nm + 90°. Wait 10 seconds. Tighten crankshaft pulley bolt a further 15°. NB I was not able to turn the bolt 90° after 100 nm, I used an impact wrench, breaker bar etc, and eventually achieved 170nm+ so I left it at that.
Check cambelt alignment
1. Remove the TDC timing pin
2. Remove the flywheel locking tool from bellhousing
3. Remove the camshaft locking tool
4. Turn the engine by hand clockwise two full revolutions, checking that there is no interference from the valves touching the pistons.
5. Check that the tensioner is holding the belt securely.
6. Re-install the TDC timing pin
7. Turn engine until it reaches the TDC stop
8. Check the timing marks and that the camshaft alignment tool fits into the back of the cams.
9. If the camshafts are not correctly aligned you may have installed the belt off by a tooth. With the engine at TDC, re-install in the flywheel locking tool, remove the cambelt tensioner and adjust the camshaft positions carefully so that they align with the camshaft or pulley alignment tool. Now make sure as well that there is no slack in the top of the belt across the pulleys and on the port side down to the crankshaft. Reinstall belt tensioner.
Install starter motor
1. Replace the starter motor
2. Torque the 3 bolts to 34nm
Install intake manifold
1. position the dipstick tube in the engine bay
2. align the intake manifold to the head (note there are 2 dowels protruding from the manifold which slot into the head), lean it up a little so that you can re-fasten the dipstick tube bracket to the header. Push the end of the dipstick tube into the sump and align the intake manifold to the head
3. tighten the intake manifold bolts to the head to 15nm
4. Fasten the oil feed bar to the top of the head with the 2 screws
5. Refit the crankcase breather to the intake manifold
6. Insert the oil dipstick in the tube.
Install alternator bracket
Replace the bracked and fit the 4 bolts 47NM?
Install alternator
With the alternator in hand, lower it into position with the long stud in situ. Attach the connector plug before putting it into place as the intake manifold will block access once the alternator is installed.
It might be a good idea to cut a groove into the end of the stud with a dremel so that it can be easily removed in future with a screwdriver. Insert and tighten the 3 bolts and put the nut on the stud
Re-connect positive lead to alternator
Install water rail
1. It is fiddly but the water rail needs to be rotated into place and inserted into the silicone u-hose at the back of the engine. Attach the bracket through the intake manifold bottom right hand bolt. Tighten to 15nm.
2. Tighten the hose clamps on both ends.
3. On later models, the water pipe is attached to the alternator bracket with a p-clip. On early models, the water pipe is attached to the intake manifold with a welded on bracket
4. Refill coolant
Install throttlebody
Install throttle body on manifold. Connect controller plug and fuel Evap vacuum hose (if fitted) underneath the manifold on the nipple under the throttlebody.
Install upper cam-belt cover
1. Fit upper cover and tighten cam cover bolts to 9 nm
2. Install the water-pump bell on the water pump assembly. Hand tighten the four bolts
3. Install the front auxiliary pulley onto the engine block. Tighten to 25NM
4. Install the auxiliary belt Gates 6PK1203. Turn the auxiliary belt tensioner with a 15mm spanner to be able to slip the belt into position over the tensioner.
5. Tighten the 4 water-pump bell bolts to 25NM
Install the cam cover if removed.
1. Fit cam cover
2. Tighten cover bolts to 9nm.
3. Refit the camshaft control actuators.
4. Reconnect camshaft position sensor connectors
5. Reconnect spark-plug HT leads
6. Reconnect camshaft control connectors
7. Reconnect breather PCV hose to camcover, tighten hose clamp
8. Zip-tie coolant hose back to camshaft control bracket
Things not to forget:
check the TDC blanking plug is refitted and torqued to 20nm
check coolant level, check for leaks
check for oil leaks after running the engine - eg dipstip tube, TDC blanking plug.
check all connectors are in place
re-check all bolts are properly tightened
you can turn the engine over again for good luck
Start engine; if it doesn t go bang, congratulate yourself.
Re-attach battery, fit nose cone and bonnet. After a test drive, check for coolant leaks and top up coolant.
I believe the 270 & 310 Sigmas introduced in 2015 also use the Ti-VCT so this guide should work for them as well. You can identify that it has Ti-VCT engine by the 2 camshaft control actuators situated on the front of the engine. Because the engine control unit dynamically adjusts the cam lobe angle, Caterham recommend the standard Ford alignment settings, unlike the non-VCT Sigmas for which Caterham retarded the intake cam by 6° from OEM.
There are a few different steps to access the cambelt compared to a ford FWD vehicle for example and I needed to remove parts of the cooling system to remove the alternator and the intake manifold to remove the starter motor.
Very important: The camshafts and crankshaft are a keyless fit. This allows for precise camshaft timing but it must be done with the crankshaft locked at TDC and the camshafts locked in place with the appropriate tool while the belt is removed and replaced. It is also important that the crankshaft pulley is torqued correctly so that it does not slip out of alignment.
You can find some resources online and probably a Haynes manual, but the Ti-VCT is not so widely known and most of the guides leave out some steps below. This guide is a little verbose, but it was my first cambelt change, so I took notes.
Special Tools:
- Ford timing pin OEM Ford part no: 303-748
- Ford Camshaft tool 303-376B and/or ford Camshaft pulley alignment tool OEM Ford part no: 303-1097
- Ford flywheel locking tool OEM Ford part no: 303-393a and 303-393-02 or equivalent.
- Laser tools makes great quality equivalents.
Cambelt kit OEM Ford part no: 1780142. This including water pump and tensioner; nb some aftermarket kits include cambelt bolts and the crankshaft pulley bolt. This kit contains the belt, tensioner and pump which can be bought separately.
Ford OEM Cambelt kit 1672144 contains:
- Cambelt OEM Ford part no: 1004297 22mm x 117 teeth
- Cambelt tensioner OEM Ford part no: 1376164
Other parts:
- Main crankshaft pulley bolt - OEM Ford part no: 1677517
- Auxiliary serpentine belt OEM part no: Gates 6PK1203. It is recommended to replace this with the cambelt.
- Auxiliary idler pulley probably good for 100K but should you need to replace it should be Gates T36175
- Auxiliary tensioner pulley: if you should need to replace it OEM Ford part no: 12555424, gates T38008 (72.5mm D x 25.5mm W x 17mm axle); or the entire tensioner assembly looks to be Gates part T38272 or INA 534013120
1. Remove bonnet and nosecone
2. Disconnect the battery ground cable
Remove auxillary belt
1. Loosen the four water pump pulley bolts while the belt is still tensioned. You may need to hold the pulley
2. Use a 15 mm spanner to twist the auxiliary belt tensioner so that the belt is loose enough to slide off the pulley; remove belt
3. Remove the water pump pulley bell, set aside
4. Remove the auxiliary belt pulley from the front of the engine; set aside
Remove front upper cambelt cover
1. remove the front upper cambelt cover. Once the bolts are removed and the front pulley removed, it should come off with some gentle prying with your hands. (note that the top centre bolt is longer than the others.)
Set the crankshaft at TDC and fix the camshafts in position
If you are going to use the Ford camshaft alignment tool, remove the camcover to gain access to fix the camshafts in place:
1. disconnect camshaft sensors plugs
2. disconnect camshaft control valves from head and put aside, wrap in paper towels
3. loosen captive bolts on the cam cover and remove camcover, set aside
4. remove the 4 spark plugs, set aside. (optional)
5. Put the transmission in neutral, and remove the TDC blanking plug from the front of the engine, starboard side, just above the sump. Insert the Ford TDC pin. Turn the engine clockwise until it engages with the pin. The engine is now at TDC.
6. check that the alignment tool fits into the back of the camshafts. If the camshaft alignment slots are not horizontal, remove the timing pin, rotate the engine clockwise 90 degrees, re-install the timing pin and turn the engine until it stops at the timing pin at TDC. Now the Ford camshaft alignment tool should slot in.
NB If you are using the Ford pulley alignment tool 303-1097 or equivalent, you do not need to remove the camcover: just turn the engine clockwise to TDC, fit Ford timing pin OEM Ford part no: 303-748, fit the cambelt pulley alignment tool between the two pulleys. If it doesn t fit with a little jiggling, remove the timing pin, rotate the engine 90 degrees clockwise, re-install the timing pin and turn the engine until it stops at the timing pin. Now the Ford cam pulley alignment tool should fit.
To access the cambelt, you need to remove the alternator and alternator bracket. The alternator is held to the bracket by 2 bolts and a stud. However the top bolt and stud securing the alternator may not clear the aluminium water rail which goes from the engine outlet to the radiator intake hose. So this water rail needs to be removed first. If you haven t drained the coolant already, drain the radiator to a clean container if you are going to re-use the coolant.
Remove water rail
Loosen the hose clamps securing the water rail on each end. Cut off any zip-ties, noting where they were. The water rail is also secured to the intake manifold by 2 bolts; one to the front of the intake manifold, and one at the back of the engine. To access the rear bolt, use a long extension underneath the throttle body. You may need to remove the throttle body to gain access, it is secured by 4 screws to the intake with T30 torx headed screws. You may need a bendy screwdriver to access one of the screws. Once the rail is free, pull it forward out of the engine, clearing the bracket by turning the rail.
Remove the alternator
Remove the alternator connector plug and the positive lead from the back of the alternator. The alternator is held to the alternator bracket casting with a bolt on the front face, and long bolt and an additional stud on the side. The alternator will not clear the chassis rails without removing the long stud. Loosen the front bolt and remove, remove the rear nut and slide the alternator towards the chassis rail. Use a Mole-Grip to loosen and remove the stud from the engine block. Now the alternator can be taken off and put aside.
Remove alternator bracket
Now the alternator bracket casting can be removed from the front of the engine. Remove the 4 bolts and set aside the bracket, noting which bolts go in which hole. The cambelt is now visible, but cannot be replaced without removing the lower pulley and cover.
Fit the Ford flywheel locking tool
Possibly you could loosen the crankshaft pulley with the car in 5th gear and the handbrake on to hold the flywheel in place, but mine would not budge. Also with this method, it will be difficult to torque the crankshaft pulley bolt correctly so I used the Ford /Laser flywheel locking tool to hold the crankshaft at TDC while removing the crankshaft bolt. This requires removal of the intake manifold to reach the starter motor.
Remove intake Manifold
1. Remove the two screws which hold the VCT oil control bar to the top of the manifold. Pull the oil control bar out of the way.
2. Remove the 7 bolts that hold the intake manifold to the head. Note that the 2nd bolt is longer than the others
3. Disconnect the breather pipe from the intake manifold
4. Remove the oil-dipstick assembly; be ready, these M5 screws are probably seized in the rivnuts; you might be able to reach the lower T20 Torx screw holding the bracket by leaning the intake manifold up to clear the chassis rail
5. detach any other cables/zipties
6. Remove the intake manifold, set aside
Install flywheel locking tool
1. remove the 3 bolts which fix the starter motor to the bell housing. You will need 8mm hex-sockets or allen key to remove these bolts. Pull the starter to the side.
2. Ensure the engine is at TDC from the steps above,
3. Install the flywheel locking tool.
4. Check that it properly engages by confirming that the crankshaft cannot be turned on the crankshaft pulley.
Remove the crankshaft pulley
With the flywheel safely locked in place, the crankshaft pulley needs to be removed to be able to remove the lower cover and to remove the cambelt itself.
I was able to access the crankshaft pulley with an extension bar, breaker bar and universal joint from the front of the car under the radiator, between the horns.
1. With the flywheel locked in place, use a long breaker bar to remove the pulley bolt. It may be useful to heat the bolt with a blow-torch and/or to hit the head of the bolt with a hammer break it free. Alternatively you can try to use an impact wrench with an extension bar and an impact u-joint.
2. Remove the pulley bolt. It is supposedly a stretch bolt and should not be re-used. Measure it. Mine was 80mm long, M14 which corresponds to Ford OE part no: 1677517. Many cambelt kits come with a new bolt.
3. Now remove the auxillary pulley and set aside
4. Remove the lower cover held on with 3 bolts. Set aside
Remove the belt tensioner & belt
1. Before you remove the tensioner, install a camshaft alignment tool or pulley locking tool; if you don't, the camshafts will rotate, but you can turn them gently using a 21mm spanner on the camshaft flats back to the correct position.
2. Remove the bolt holding the tensioner
3. Remove the Cambelt.
Replace the water pump
1. When you remove the old water pump, even if you have drained the coolant out of the radiator, there will still be some coolant in the pump. So put a pan under the engine to catch this coolant.
2. Remove the 7 bolts that retain the water pump.
3. Remove the pump and gasket
4. Fit a new pump and gasket, tighten the 7 bolts to 9NM (80 inch lbs)
Fit the new cambelt
1. Put the crankshaft pulley on the crankshaft
2. Put the belt around the crankshaft pulley and over the camshaft pulleys. There should be 12 teeth between the pulley marks I and O , with the belt tight across the camshaft pulleys. If the teeth don t slot into place, you may need turn the exhaust pulley back 1/4 a tooth with a 21mm wrench.
3. Install the cambelt tensioner onto the engine block, with the grenade pin on the left hand side. Tighten the tensioner retaining bolt to 25 NM
4. Pull the tensioner 'grenade' pin to engage the tensioner on the belt.
Install the crankshaft pulley bolt
1. Put the lower crankshaft cover back and bolt on to 9nm
2. Put the auxiliary pulley on the crankshaft
3. Install a new crankshaft bolt OEM Ford part no: 1677517
4. Remove the camshaft alignment tools if fitted.
5. The correct procedure is to tighten to bolt to 100 Nm + 90°. Wait 10 seconds. Tighten crankshaft pulley bolt a further 15°. NB I was not able to turn the bolt 90° after 100 nm, I used an impact wrench, breaker bar etc, and eventually achieved 170nm+ so I left it at that.
Check cambelt alignment
1. Remove the TDC timing pin
2. Remove the flywheel locking tool from bellhousing
3. Remove the camshaft locking tool
4. Turn the engine by hand clockwise two full revolutions, checking that there is no interference from the valves touching the pistons.
5. Check that the tensioner is holding the belt securely.
6. Re-install the TDC timing pin
7. Turn engine until it reaches the TDC stop
8. Check the timing marks and that the camshaft alignment tool fits into the back of the cams.
9. If the camshafts are not correctly aligned you may have installed the belt off by a tooth. With the engine at TDC, re-install in the flywheel locking tool, remove the cambelt tensioner and adjust the camshaft positions carefully so that they align with the camshaft or pulley alignment tool. Now make sure as well that there is no slack in the top of the belt across the pulleys and on the port side down to the crankshaft. Reinstall belt tensioner.
Install starter motor
1. Replace the starter motor
2. Torque the 3 bolts to 34nm
Install intake manifold
1. position the dipstick tube in the engine bay
2. align the intake manifold to the head (note there are 2 dowels protruding from the manifold which slot into the head), lean it up a little so that you can re-fasten the dipstick tube bracket to the header. Push the end of the dipstick tube into the sump and align the intake manifold to the head
3. tighten the intake manifold bolts to the head to 15nm
4. Fasten the oil feed bar to the top of the head with the 2 screws
5. Refit the crankcase breather to the intake manifold
6. Insert the oil dipstick in the tube.
Install alternator bracket
Replace the bracked and fit the 4 bolts 47NM?
Install alternator
With the alternator in hand, lower it into position with the long stud in situ. Attach the connector plug before putting it into place as the intake manifold will block access once the alternator is installed.
It might be a good idea to cut a groove into the end of the stud with a dremel so that it can be easily removed in future with a screwdriver. Insert and tighten the 3 bolts and put the nut on the stud
Re-connect positive lead to alternator
Install water rail
1. It is fiddly but the water rail needs to be rotated into place and inserted into the silicone u-hose at the back of the engine. Attach the bracket through the intake manifold bottom right hand bolt. Tighten to 15nm.
2. Tighten the hose clamps on both ends.
3. On later models, the water pipe is attached to the alternator bracket with a p-clip. On early models, the water pipe is attached to the intake manifold with a welded on bracket
4. Refill coolant
Install throttlebody
Install throttle body on manifold. Connect controller plug and fuel Evap vacuum hose (if fitted) underneath the manifold on the nipple under the throttlebody.
Install upper cam-belt cover
1. Fit upper cover and tighten cam cover bolts to 9 nm
2. Install the water-pump bell on the water pump assembly. Hand tighten the four bolts
3. Install the front auxiliary pulley onto the engine block. Tighten to 25NM
4. Install the auxiliary belt Gates 6PK1203. Turn the auxiliary belt tensioner with a 15mm spanner to be able to slip the belt into position over the tensioner.
5. Tighten the 4 water-pump bell bolts to 25NM
Install the cam cover if removed.
1. Fit cam cover
2. Tighten cover bolts to 9nm.
3. Refit the camshaft control actuators.
4. Reconnect camshaft position sensor connectors
5. Reconnect spark-plug HT leads
6. Reconnect camshaft control connectors
7. Reconnect breather PCV hose to camcover, tighten hose clamp
8. Zip-tie coolant hose back to camshaft control bracket
Things not to forget:
check the TDC blanking plug is refitted and torqued to 20nm
check coolant level, check for leaks
check for oil leaks after running the engine - eg dipstip tube, TDC blanking plug.
check all connectors are in place
re-check all bolts are properly tightened
you can turn the engine over again for good luck
Start engine; if it doesn t go bang, congratulate yourself.
Re-attach battery, fit nose cone and bonnet. After a test drive, check for coolant leaks and top up coolant.
Edited by Dr Evil on Saturday 2nd September 18:08
Edited by Dr Evil on Saturday 2nd September 18:16
Edited by Dr Evil on Tuesday 9th December 20:51
Edited by Dr Evil on Wednesday 10th December 17:13
Looks like a good guide 
i am currently doing this on my Sigma 125, I used a torque wrench to tighten the crank bolt to 100Nm, then used an extending 3/4" drive socket like this: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Extending-Ratchet-Handl...
Being 1 metre long made it fairly easy
Have you read the belt tensioner mod used on the 150 engine here : https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&... there is a link in the last post to a thread on Blatchat showing how I did the mod. The fixed tensioner should protect the engne if it rotates backwards during a spin, but I don't know if it is used on the variable timing engines or not.
i am currently doing this on my Sigma 125, I used a torque wrench to tighten the crank bolt to 100Nm, then used an extending 3/4" drive socket like this: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Extending-Ratchet-Handl...
Being 1 metre long made it fairly easy
Have you read the belt tensioner mod used on the 150 engine here : https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&... there is a link in the last post to a thread on Blatchat showing how I did the mod. The fixed tensioner should protect the engne if it rotates backwards during a spin, but I don't know if it is used on the variable timing engines or not.
IvanP said:
Hi
Will the procedure and parts & tools numbers be the same for the Caterham Sigma 1.6 engine without the variable valve timing?
Thanks
Ivan
Never did a non-vvt sigma but the procedure should be pretty much the same. Be aware that caterham did not use standard ford camshaft timing; so use Ford pulley alignment tool 303-1097 or equivalent (‘X’ shaped tool) to hold the sprockets in the correct position; if you use Ford pulley alignment tool 303-1097 (flat bar), it wont fit unless you go back to standard timing and lose a little power. Will the procedure and parts & tools numbers be the same for the Caterham Sigma 1.6 engine without the variable valve timing?
Thanks
Ivan
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