billdapart

No, not flaming at all. To anyone who is wrenching I say here here! I just like to go all preachy about using the right tools and doing it the way the Manufacturer specifies because I am fortunate enough to be in a position where that is easy for me. It's really just a cop out because I don't know how the heck I'd do it without the resources I have. You did though, and more power to you!
And yes Don you may be correct, I wouldn't know at all.. but I CAN tell you that vodka and rockstar needs to be moderated more than you would first think.. and drinking these heavily before posting on forums is definitely not something I would recommend.

complacentsee

Well, the tool insures that the job is done correctly each and every time. To use the tool you need to pop the sprokets otherwise you can't properly set the belt tension.

q2quest

To answer someone's question, I am in Santa Rosa, CA. My cams were not very far off and I realized after my initial post that it would have been fine. But using the tool to lock the cams in their perfect top dead center position and using the crank locking bolt ensures that the cams are perfectly in phase. You pop the cam gears loose so that they spin independantly of the cams themselves. They are a taper fit onto the camshafts. The important thing is that the cams themselves are in allignment. It's very easy to do with the tool. You put the timing belt on and when it is tensioned properly the cam gears will come to rest wherever is natural. Then you tighten the cam gear bolts and lock the gears in place. The timing is now perfect. Once 100K miles goes by the cams will be slightly out of phase again because of belt stretch and that's when you use the tools again. I thought I might notice a slight power increase with everything perfect again, but it doesn't feel any different.

Indyxtype

I did my belt a little while ago and rented the tools. I figure with all the money I put into this car to keep it running and to tuned well, is it worth the gamble to not have everything perfectly in sync and running optimally, or worse getting destroyed because I wanted to save $50? I couldn't justify it. Hell, I spent more than that doing my last oil change, not to mention all the times I've spent that much extra for "the best" parts. Beyond that, the peace of mind alone was worth the investment.

bingS4

To have confidence that you did the job right and to know that you're starting off with a fresh belt and perfect timing, not something that's just "okay".

shawnoc2003

You'd be amazed at how forgiving cam timing can be.

Indyxtype

If that's the case then why is there such a difference in output between different octane codes?

complacentsee

cam timing is not that kind of timing. That is the timing of the spark/ignition.

shawnoc2003

Octane actually slows the combustion process preventing dentonation.

Typically with high octane, you can run more ignition timing and/or higher boost. Thats probably the only advantage of E85 since ethanol has an effectively higher "octane" than gasoline so you could run more boost on E85 than on gasoline.