Timing belt and tensioner renewal

I have recently bought a timing belt kit for my 1997 993cc efi with a mind to changeing it myself. The lowest garage price I found so far for labour was £72 inc vat. I am sure that could be better spent somehere else (like on my crap brakes) I have succsessfully done a basic renault 19 one in the past, I am wondering if I need specific locking tools or anything? Can anyone give me a few tips?

Hi no special tools needed. Remove alternater belt then water pump pulley, then the bottom pulley putting the bolt back, then cam belt covers use a spanner or socket (you need to put the bolt back as you need it to rotate the engine) to rotate the motor over you don't have to take the plugs out it has fairley low compression till you line the timing mark on the cam pulley to the head I usually find the dot on the front and then mark the back as then you can see both from the back as the footwell gets in the way and then the tensioner is held in with one bolt and the spring is hooked in, I haven't got a top cam belt cover fitted and I've had the head off several times it took about half an hour. It is layed out in the manuel which you can download off this site.

Looking at doin my cam belt too, did you need a nut gun to undo the bottom pulley??

large519 wrote:Looking at doin my cam belt too, did you need a nut gun to undo the bottom pulley??

I have managed to undo the crankshaft pully nut with an ordinary 1/2'' ratchet without to much difficulty, I put it in a forward gear first. A helper should stand on the brakes at the same time, but my only company was the rain. I found it helpfull to loosen the water pump pully bolts BEFORE removing the auxiliary drive belt, otherwise there is nothing to hold it steady.
It is probably a good idea to re-torque bolts rather than gorilla wrench it when you are done. It probably worth checking oil seals and any other adjacent parts at the same time, I have a sneaking suspicion about where that oil is coming from. Thats as far as I got today, got beaten of by the rain, puddles and dark.

I do the same hold the belt to get the water pump bolts undone then in gear and the bottom nut comes off with a 19mm racheting spanner and back on the same way the only thing I always torque is the head other than that it's all done by feel or just FT.