Advice and gotchas on the timeing belt ??

[Alan Cordeiro <alan.cordeiro@mts.com>]

Hi all,

Last Saturday, being suitably oily and greasy from finishing 
a complete rear brake overhaul, I spent a few minutes inspecting my
timing belt. I was unhappy to find it covered with small cracks.

I have had a new belt, water pump, idler pully, and crankshaft oil seal
in my basement for about a year. I have also had a very big shortage
of "free time". The brakes only got done because they froze, wore down
pads to the metal, put some surface groves in the rotor on one side....
( oil changes regularly, Mobil One,  not complete neglect...)

This morning I noticed two references in the digest to problems when
changing the timing belt, and one reference to the special Zelenda tool.
I was hoping to get by without this tool somehow, perhaps by stuffing
rope into the number one cylinder ( from Graydon...)

Since I am considering replacing the belt over the next weekend, thought 
I'd get some words of wisdom from  you all. I looked up the archives and 
recovered the last writeup by Steve Jagernauth, dated 8/16/95.

Thanks,

Alan Cordeiro
'86 5kQ