I've been fortunate enough to never have to do one of these before, are there any special tools I need for the job? The timing belt tensioning tool looks pretty important and cheap:
How hard is the crank pulley to get off? Should it just impact off or is it as bad as a honda?
The special tools that would be most useful are probably the little plastic doodads that go between the cam gears on each head to keep the two gears in a set position.
The crank pulley bolt has a 1/2" drive square hole in it so that part is easy. I think it just falls off after that.. but to be honest im not too confident in my memory! lol
The tensioning tool is worth the few bucks for use in those tight quarters. I made triangular wood blocks w/ a tension bolt through them to lock each heads cams in place. Done it w/ big binder clips too, but blocks were easiest/worked best.
(this was on a mitcu 4 cylnder.. but same application, i a way)
on the timing tension tool... I bought one, and used it.. but messed something up and had to go back in.. and was actually easier without the tool. honestly, did I get tension 100%? I do not know, but she runs great, as has done so for 40k since then..
getting gears off without spinning the shafts (crank and cams) is the hard part. get the tools to lock that E36 M3 down, and you will be good to go.. and might well get timing tool, since it is a drop in the bucket after the other tools, and belts, and tensioners, etc..
Vigo wrote: The special tools that would be most useful are probably the little plastic doodads that go between the cam gears on each head to keep the two gears in a set position. The crank pulley bolt has a 1/2" drive square hole in it so that part is easy. I think it just falls off after that.. but to be honest im not too confident in my memory! lol
You can make the little plastic doodads for almost free with jb weld putty and a plastic bag. 
Crank pulley can fit a 1/2" socket wrench no problem.
You don't really need the tensioner tool, but it's been way too long since I've done the belt on one, I can't remember exactly how I did it.
The dohc 6g72 in a 3s is a different animal for this service vs the 4 cyls..
Gears stay on. Not getting the tension right is expensive when it fails and the tensioner is hard to access.
The dohc 6g72 in a 3s is a different animal for this service vs the 4 cyls..
Is it because the timing belt goes around EIGHT pullies? 
As for that tensioner pulley, i honestly dont consider it to be super critical since it's not actually the thing that does the tensioning. All you're doing there is trying to keep the actual tensioner thing in the proper part of its range/travel. Most of the time i'll just tighten it down in the same position the old one came off in, which is easy when the tensioner isnt pushing on it, no tool needed. There are other motors where an eccentric pulley is the ONLY thing that provides tension and i consider those to be more sensitive or worthy of buying a special tool. My .02
My personal experience is that getting the pulley into that proper range for the hydraulic tensioner to act on is a pain without the tool, and I've had the pleasure of a skipped belt w/ piston to valve contact because of it.
You'll need to log in to post.
