Easiest way to replace Timing Belt?

[BigElCat]

My Haynes manual says that I need to remove the passenger side front tire, and that inner splash shield to access the bolts on the crank pulley and crank sprocket.

Just lookin' at it, it seems like this would be a waste of time.

Any advice would be nice.

[GenevaDirt]

easiest thing for you to do is....give me the car and then go buy another one....just a thought....lol

[CHills]

^ R:laughing5:FL ^

[FestYboy]

don't have to do any of that, just crank the wheel to the right and remove the lower plastic. you'll have all the room you need, just make sure you have a fairly long philips head with a good tip, it helps, ALOT.

i described what i did and what i needed (tools) in another thread, i'll see if i can find it.

here it is: http://www.fordfestiva.com/forums/sh...g+belt+replace

[gdawgs]

I always take the wheel and shield off. It takes all of about two minutes and gives you lots of room to work. The crankshaft bolt can be tough to get off with a ratchet, so I always use an impact wrench. That might be tough to do with the wheel on.
To get an impact wrench on the crank bolt, you need to lower the engine by loosening up the motor mount(three large nuts right above the alternator). Support the engine with jack.

I'm sure there are other ways to do it, but this way works for me.

[mattswabb]

So you're trying to save 5 minutes on an hour and a half job by not removing the wheel?

[Pu241]

I'm with matt and gdawgs on this, take the few minutes to do the job right, or you can always take Genevadirt up on his offer!

[WmWatt]

I think I used the Phillips head bit on the breaker bar instead of using a screwdriver.
Can't remember if there was enough space to use the ratchet on those screws.
In my case there was enough room to drop the pulley when I put a pry bar on the
upper engine mount and gave the engine a shove out of the way. I didn't have to loosen the mounting bolt. To reinstall the pulley was positioned above and the engine given another shove. It dropped back into place.