I know its a bodge... but when needs must....

[buzzer]

I have not done this for years... A mate came around yesterday for me to service his old car... its a 1993 Peugeot 205 diesel which has just 23,000 miles on it from new. he had got the parts, and also I cam belt which I hadn't planned to do..., bit of a problem as I didn't have the timing tools...

As he didn't want to bother with a new water pump or tensioners I used the old method of cutting the old belt in half with a stanley knife, cutting the first bit off, feeding the new belt on, cutting the remainder of the belt off, and finally sliding the new belt into place. its a bit of a bodge but its quick and ensures the timing remains the same...

[seismic22]

Thats brilliant, excellent initiative!

[deanogtv]

Pure genius

[Liquid Tuna]

Good man!! I bet most of the "fitters" at pretty much any dealership would go "timing what?"

[renrut]

That reminds me of the youtube vid of the guy replacing the fan belt on his beetle while it was running!

[dharte]

Great trick, I'll have to remember that one I'm sure it will come in handy one day!

[buzzer]

seismic22 said:

Thats brilliant, excellent initiative!

I wish I could claim it as my idea... taught to me many years ago!

[ShayneJ]

Brilliantly simple.

Done this myself I'm supprised I haven't seen this posted before.

[Big Fat Fatty]

dharte said:

Great trick, I'll have to remember that one I'm sure it will come in handy one day!

+1, that's bloody clever

[OllieC]

buzzer said:

seismic22 said:

Thats brilliant, excellent initiative!

I wish I could claim it as my idea... taught to me many years ago!

Its been around a while it makes changing the belt on old ford OHC engines very easy, I sare say even I could do it !

its one of those simple things that you just think 'genius' shortly followed by 'why didnt I think of that'

[B3ALP]

Brilliant

[eltax91]

Whats the trick to loosening the tensioner and still keeping the timing? Just wondering how you manage to get the new belt on without loosening the tensioner otherwise!?

[crofty1984]

I have a 205D I need to change the belt on next year. Might give it a go myself.

[Mr2Mike]

Not something you want to do on modern engines that require really accurate cam timing. Also no good if you have a timing belt driven water pump which you are (very wisely) changing at the same time.

[buzzer]

eltax91 said:

Whats the trick to loosening the tensioner and still keeping the timing? Just wondering how you manage to get the new belt on without loosening the tensioner otherwise!?

you just need to back it off slightly... not much though, and the belt just slips on. once its in place, just re-tension. in this case its a spring that tensions it to the correct amount.

[chryslerben]

Liquid Tuna said:

Good man!! I bet most of the "fitters" at pretty much any dealership would go "timing what?"

Hush, just hush. It's a st idea that doesn't take into account correct tensioning of the new belt.

[buzzer]

chryslerben said:

Liquid Tuna said:

Good man!! I bet most of the "fitters" at pretty much any dealership would go "timing what?"

Hush, just hush. It's a st idea that doesn't take into account correct tensioning of the new belt.

perhaps I should have added that you need to re-tension the new belt... but I kind of thought that would be obvious to most people...

[chryslerben]

buzzer said:

perhaps I should have added that you need to re-tension the new belt... but I kind of thought that would be obvious to most people...

This is pistonheads lowest common denominator and all that...

[motco]

Edward de Bono* would be proud of you!

• Google...

[The Black Flash]

Very clever, like it.