Timing questions

[gjonsey]

Hey all, I have a '76 124 1800. I am trying to put on the new belt and all the pulleys, along with time the engine. I've read an hour worth of threads so far, but still have a few questions.

My engine does not have a pointer that mounts on the water neck, there is a metal that, although sits on top of the neck, only has one pointer, which is pointing towards the intake gear.

Is this information correct?;
While piston no.1 is at TDC:
aux shaft at 1 o'clock
intake should be at 11 o'clock
exhaust should be at 1 o'clock
total timing should be 36 BTDC
idle should be roughly 17 BTDC

With this information given, how do I now put the belt on (the idler/tensioner is getting in the way)
And how do I find the auxshaft position along with time an engine that doesn't have and exhaust "pointer" and lacks a degree reader/marker sticker on the harmonic balancer?

All help appreciated, these are new waters for me, so I apologize if I sound like a doof.

[davidbruce]

If you haven't already signed up for mirafori.com now would be a good time. in the library there is a wealth of technical information. Under "all models" , "general maintenance" there is a timing belt helper sheet. There are also complete service manuals which are a must. But to answer your questions. If you still have the tin shield behind the plastic belt cover, either pull the 2 rubber plugs at the top or better yet remove the whole shield. there should be indicators cast into the cam housings that line up with the marker holes in the cam gears when it is properly timed. The ignition timing indicator should line up with a notch in the outer rim of the fan belt pulley. If there is no indicater bolted to the block you need to install one. The auxillary pulley alignment hole should be between the centre of the pulley and the bolt that holds the tensioner spring. If you loosen the tensioner pinch bolt, rotate the tensioner to the slack position and then tighten the pinch bolt the belt should slide on. Then loosen the pinch bolt and the tensioner will take up the slack. Tighten the pinch bolt and manually rotate the engine two revolutions and re align the marks and ensure nothing changed. If the marks don't all line up, release the tensioner and re-do the procedure. Replace tin shield and/or plugs. While none of this is too difficult, if not done properly, you can do some very expensive damage.

[chrisg]

I'll second check in at Mirafiiori as there is a wealth of information & a lot of folks who do this job in their sleep.

Yes, there are ridges on the cam box housing that line up the markers on the cam gears so you should be good there.

The aux is basically 1 o'clock looking at it, which I think roughly points the hole on the aux gear towards a bolt.

I'm guessing you don't have a timing belt cover to locate the TDC & advance marks? if not, then yeah, you will be finding it & creating some sort of pointer/mark on the main pulley.

You end up sort of getting a feel for putting it all together. Generally slipping on the tensioner last is what will make sense . You will also sometimes note a slight rotation of the aux shaft as you put it all together & I think when I do it, I sometimes place the aux shaft in a spot where it will rotate to the correct point as it all gets tightened. If you have or make a tool to hold all the gears in place, you are probably able to save a certain amount of grief, but I've never found that to be essential. Good luck!