thermostat and a valve cover gasket.
Timing belt:
Not for the feignt of heart. Everything is pretty straight forward
until you have to get the belt back on. Then tensioner on the belts
is a very cool from an engineering perspective. From a mechanics
perspective it's a nuisance. Here's why:
The tensioner is basically a self contained, presiurized piston that
exerts a tremendous amout of pressure on the tensioner pulley and
transferres that force to the belt. The problem here is this - in
order to reset the piston after having removed it to replace the
belt, call a shop with a hydraulic press - you will need one.
Resetting the piston requires a bearing press or other such mutually
expensive equipment. The piston which will fit in my hand requires up
to 2000lbs. to compress (!) at which point a high grade steel cotter
pin is inserted into the keeper to hold it until you have it re-
installed. I've sent it to a shop to have it compressed. After re-
installation you just pull the pin and go on with life (make sure the
pulley is in place first).
I have to hand it to S.O.A. tho. The new belts they sell you are pre
printed with timing marks and directionals on the belt. I have the
S.O.A. manuals anyway but a relatively mechanical individual could
possibly do this one on their own without them if they can figure out
the piston problem without breaking their bench vise trying to
compress it themselves (like I did
( Oops!).Thermo is a no-brainer. Pull out the old one, put a new gasket on the
new one and replace. Look out for the radiator fluid getting in your
eyes along the way.
Valve cover I haven't started yet. So if you have suggestions let me
know.
-Sambo