Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Morgan Three Wheeler & Super 3 how to change a tming belt (and avoid my mistakes)

I have put this together so in three or more years from now I change the belts again. Hopefully some of you can learn from mistakes. I have included pictures at the end

Mistake #1.... Pride goeth before the fall.... Afterall I have worked on a lot of engines and changed a lot of belts.... HOW HARD CAN THIS BE? The answer is damn hard.

Mistake #2 I see the little red line on the three cams so they must line up with some mark on the engine.... no they do not. So my inner sherlock said they all must point to the center. Well, Watson was wrong as that is 180 degrees off. What the red mark does is indicate (generally) where there is an extra off center hole in the pully. This lines up with a hole in the case and you insert a 3/16 rod and it holds the pully in place. I used a #10 machine screw. While I have a picture of the hole in the pully, I was unable to get one of the hole in the case.

Mistake #3.... well this was not a mistake as the engine must be a FTDC. Of course on our M3W's is not front and back. The left cyinder is the front cylinder. People often mess this up. Left is from the perspective of you sitting in the vehicle facing forward. My picture is actually not a TDC... there is a little notch that line up with a case marking.

Mistake #4.... the tensioner must be the last thing to do.... Try as I might, there was no way I could get the tension spring tab into the little slot after everything else was on. The problem is that roller has to be two far out and then you cannot push it in

Mistake #5... okay, I did not make this mistake... The two upper rollers were the last to go on. When they are off the bushing are loose and they can be off center. BE REALLY CAREFUL when you screw into the engine as it is aluminum and if you get it off, you will strip the threads, It is the last part getting the rollers properly seated on the busing... I used a rathet strap aroung the perimeter to pull them close to in pace and a pry bar for the final positioning.

It onlky took me about 10 hours to do this one hour job!

Picture 1 Old timing belt [img]https://www.tm-img.com/image/icCqi[/img]

Picture 2 Fuzz from belt wear [img]https://www.tm-img.com/image/ic5AR[/img]

Picture 3 If you look carefully you can see the three red marks on the cam pullys. [img]https://www.tm-img.com/image/icUuN[/img]

Picture 4 The offset extra hole in the cam pully [img]https://www.tm-img.com/image/icwgw[/img]

Picture 5... the bottom pully notice the FTDC and RTDC marks.... t is clear when you rotate this how it lines up

Picture 6... The tensioner. notice how the spring tab to your left sits in a lttle slot... you cannot get it there if the belt is under pressure [img]https://www.tm-img.com/image/icB1a[/img]

Not sure why the pictures did not load... it has been a while since I posted any pctures, but the link is there to the pictures.

You need to use the BBCode links Rodger as this is a BB based forum.

I think it has changed sice I last posted pictures... but thanks for getting them... after all, at my age I am a luddite

Thanks for this documentation!

If you would like a guide on what to do when changing the cam belt, rather than what not to do, there is a full set on instructions freely available on the MTWC website https://www.mtwc.co.uk/new-5-speeder-page-2/ Look for the "M3W Bulletin Articles" and then click on "Sample Articles". Along with several "how to" guides written by M3W owners there is one relating to cam belt replacement.

Geeze... was just trying to have some fun with it