Timing belt should I tackle it myself?

[rlux4]

Be thankful you don't have FI. We have a 10 gauge wire that goes directly from the battery to a double relay and when my "mechanic" shorted on the starter it fried my relay. FI cars won't start after that. I think in your case you'll just need to check your fuses. Not sure if any of yours are direct feed of 12V. Hopefully it was not for long and your starter is OK.
Ron

[TulsaSpider]

Well there was no harm done after all on the starter I finished it up yesterday. New timing belt, new hoses, yep every single hose is renewed!, no leaks! well water leaks anyways! I even painted a few items! The only thing I had a bit of trouble with was that it took me about 5 maybe more I lost track... tries to get the belt on there with the correct alignment. I couldn't get the belt teeth in the crank pulley I guess and it would slip a notch. I would line it up rotate engine clockwise etc... then it would be off...well I just tried again until I got it!
Refilling with coolant, no problems there either. I drilled the hole in the thermostat (PO had it installed incorrectly as well) as I learned about on here, filled the system and warmed it up, let it cool checked levels and all was good! Drove it home with no overheating problems or anything unusual!! I was going to fill it up through the choke hose but I couldn't find a funnel, but it seems to be good anyways. I reccomend drilling that hole in the thermostat to let the trapped air out.

BTW To anyone else reading this who hasn't tried it yet. It wasn't too difficult, just took longer than I expected and I am more sore than expected! Remember I changed out every hose as well But taking the crank pully loose would have been more of a challenge I suspect!! I am glad I didn't have to do that!

#1 Loosen then pry the idler pulley to relieve the tension, then as previously stated on here, secure it with the slack on it to put the belt on. Believe it or not it took me a while to figure that out! Perhaps it had something to do with the gallons of sweat I was secreting!
#2 On my 78 1800 I did not have to remove the crank pulley, or the hood. I did remove the radiator because I wanted to remove the old AC ?evaporator?

Now I can drive ANYWHERE! I am thinking road trip... maybe in a month... maybe the Ozarks... I am turning 40 soon I suppose this is my post divorce mid-life-crisis car eh???
My gratitude is given to all those who help on this forum!
Slainte Mathe!

[TulsaSpider]

Here's the latest pic on my engine bay progress. it's come along quite nicely! I do want to replace the right side valve cover top plate because someone must have overtorqued it and it cracked. I just JB welded the sucker it kinda blends in... and my oil cap leaks too... more things to do.. anyways this is after my timing belt/hose replacements. I took time to re-paint a coulpe of things and used some header paint on the exaust shield. I waana get rid of the stock air cleaner and the rest of the EGR stuff... it's hard to be patient so many things.... so little $$ LOL!!

[mdrburchette]

Looking good! Now that you've stepped over the line, you're ready to tackle anything that comes along.

[rlux4]

Come on Clark, who's engine is that really? That's not the same engine bay you showed us a while back!
Lookin' good.
Ron

[TulsaSpider]

hehe I am definately happier with it. It's been fun!
Thanks!
Clark