Tungsten

It's hard to take a photo and hold the wrench at the same time in that tight space. If you want to follow what has already been done before that's fine with me. If you want a much faster and easier way to set the belt, this is it. I find it too sketchy to put the belt inside with the tensioner in place. You have to stretch it almost to get it where you want and then you run into the risk of turning one of those camshafts by accident. If you insert the tensioner after putting on the belt, you will see how much easier it is. The only thing is you have to hold on to the belt while inserting the tensioner so that the tooth count does not go off but you would usually have marks for this anyway.

The caps on the fuel sender tend to corrode and create a short circuit. Pop off the rear fuel sender lid located below the carpet and have a look inside.

That really depends on how strong your hand is to twist it and the sensitivity you do it with. I tensioned mine to twist just a hair under 90 to account for the belt being stretched over time. I decided to turn the tensioner back the other way today after doing some more research. Theoretically it doesn't matter as long as the belt is tensioned but having it at 5 o' clock rather than 11 o' clock does not make the spring try to back the tensioner off. Also the 5 o' clock position seems to engage the crank sprocket teeth better. However near 11 o' clock is better for letting the timing belt settle into the grooves. I blame the FSM for making this procedure seem impossible. They tell you to turn the tensioner clockwise and then all of a sudden you put the belt on. Then they tell you to magically apply 96 N while trying to tension the belt... Feeler gauge? Seriously? Then they advise against twisting the belt but all the techs recommend doing that. The FSM timing belt procedure makes no sense what so ever. I tried to combine any understanding of it that I had with some of my own experience and the write ups on the forum and it worked out really nicely. The belt goes to about 45 degrees with ease then starts resisting a little bit but will not twist over 90. The teeth engage really well.

The FSM specifically mentions to NOT twist the timing belt. 11 works better for me than 5 honestly. Who says the tensioner should be at 5 anyway? I think it makes more sense to tension clockwise with the spring than going against it in counterclockwise.

After looking through the manual and the forum I still couldn't find the answers I wanted so I came up with my own way to put on and tension the timing belt. This method may be slightly controversial but it works. The advantage to this method is that you can put the timing belt on really quickly without fiddling to get it in. The engine turns over just fine but I haven't started it yet to test it out fully. There is up to a max of 15 mm of belt deflection with 10 kg (22 lbs) of pressure so I think the results should be good. Note: Timing belts are actually Gilmer belts. Gilmer belts do not need much tension if any at all to properly function so it is better to stay on the looser side of the belt than on the tighter side. The only reason to tension these belts is to prevent the teeth from hopping during start-up when the belt goes from 0 RPM to 1500 RPM in about a second. The only thing to keep in mind is the square tooth belts are much more sensitive to tension than round tooth belts. Too much tension on the square tooth style belt can cause the sprockets to eat away the teeth. Step 1: With the engine at TDC, install the timing belt with the tensioner removed. Don't forget to count the teeth between the sprocket punch marks. Always remember to put the timing belt on with the arrow facing you. Step 2: Slide the tensioner in. Install the two washers and hand tighten the nut. The spring anchor should lean against the oil pump housing. Step 3: Using a 5 mm Allen key, turn the tensioner one full revolution clockwise. You will hear it snap into place and the spring anchor will be now pressing against the stud. Step 4: Slightly tension the belt by turning the tensioner clockwise by about 100 degrees. Step 5: Temporarily tighten the nut and temporarily install the harmonic balancer then turn the engine over at least twice to get it back to TDC. This will allow the timing belt to get comfortable with the sprockets. The marks are no longer going to line up if you only turn the engine over twice. This is normal. Step 6: Loosen the tensioner nut again and turn the tensioner counterclockwise to about the 5 o'clock position to set the tension. After the desired tension has been set, tighten the nut again. Step 7: Torque down the tensioner nut to about 50 Nm (or 36.9 ft lbs). Always remember the crankshaft sprocket washers for the belt.

I wish but automatics don't work like that. If there is nothing in the torque converter then you can spin the engine by hand even if you are in park. In other news... When I pulled the timing cover off some coolant dripped on the belt. I wiped it off with some alcohol wipes and it looked good. The bottom crank pulley cog came off by hand too! I cleaned that up as well. Good thing I decided to do this myself. I was surprised that the timing belt was not even tensioned! Finally changed the water pump and torqued the bolts down to 144 in/lbs. Rubbing that RTV on both sides of the gasket was sure fun. Nothing beats scraping the old one off with a razor blade though. Now I have to put the timing belt back on.

The light comes on. If it's a VG you can happily run without EGR. You can try doing something with that temperature probe to get the light to go away.

They look good. Grease them up and you're good to go.

Yes, it's drive by wire, just like a Toyota. The cruise control and pedal problem seems the same as Toyota's. The cruise control module may be malfunctioning or the pedal may be stuck. Take that truck to the dealer as soon as possible.

The funny thing is it only has play in a certain position. If I turn it more the play goes away then comes back again as I turn it back to where the play developed. Could be a faulty ball bearing. I have very good experiences with Gates stuff but this pump failed in a really weird way. Could be from the fan clutch but I doubt as that is in good shape. To prevent water pumps from wearing out so soon, I am going to be doing an electrical fan as soon as possible.

There is another silencer that sits inside the fender. You can try to remove one of those too but I think you would have to remove the actual fender.

Drilling the flywheel out could be an option.

uhoh looks like the toyota pedal is contagious

You have to remove the cover and then tighten the 3 screws under it. The mirror screws directly to the roof bracket.

Time for some Legos and 31s!

Yes, tools are a very good long term investment. I never look at tools as expenses. Especially not when they are quality tools! Anyway, the time has come to remove the harmonic balancer. I can probably just hold it and spin the bolt out with the impact. I am going to have to put it back on eventually... Any tips on holding it from rotating when torquing it down? I know there are a few timing belt write-ups already but that's the only bit of information I need. Someone suggested removing the starter and jamming the flex plate but that looks really annoying to do.

Theoretically you could straighten the frame but why bother. Swapping stuff over and junking the rest would work here. Buying the 94 and the trans seems to be a much more economical option than fixing all that broken stuff.

Definitely get the MPFI V6. Depends on your style. If you like retro box dashes go with 90 to 93 and if you like more car like rounded dashboards go with 94 or 95.

If your transmission shifts harder, it will last longer.

Yes, make more parts for a WD21!

If you want a true performance 350 that will go more than 50 miles by itself, you need to build one from the ground up. If you want to make more than 300 HP, you are going to have to re-machine every surface of it. That is what costs money. Then you can apply all the fancy parts on it from Summit racing. In stock form, a small block Chevy is a complete piece of garbage and trying to get power out of it will not have good results.

Why not just replace all the belts? If you have not done that in a while it is time to do it.

Seafoam is just oil and alcohol or something like that... Try a 3M kit instead.