Hi, I'm currently putting my 1995 Mitsubishi Minicab U42T 3g83 engine back together after getting the head resurfaced and replacing the head gasket (this thread). I have a new timing belt and belt tensioner, and all of the sprockets involved have been removed/re-torqued after replacing oil seals behind each one. I'm just wondering if I did something wrong here, because the belt wants to overhang the camshaft sprocket by about 2 mm, and I don't know if this is normal. If I put it back in alignment with the cam sprocket, it will go back to this position after 5 or 6 spins of the crankshaft bolt. Photos: Is this amount of overhang acceptable? Is there something I should adjust? Is there anything obviously wrong with the belt system in the photo that I'm not seeing? Other ideas? Only thing I can think of is the belt tension might be too high, or I need to remove and re-seat the cam sprocket for some reason. Is the tensioner spring supposed to be at 100% tightness when you tighten the tensioner bolt, or do you need to scale it back a bit? Appreciate it, thanks!
Also, when the head was resurfaced, the guy at the shop took it apart to get at the valves and fix them (he said they weren't holding compression), and I'm not entirely sure how much he took apart. The IN / EX bolts were loose and I had to re-torque them and redo the valve clearances. Is it possible that the camshaft would have shifted outward and I need to push it back, or is there no way for it to move in and out like that? ^ (Photo of head and valves)
Update: So I found out that if I loosen the IN / EX bolts, the camshaft is able to shift to the sprocket side and it feels like it hits a stopping point, like it's supposed to go there, and the belt is correctly aligned. But then when I torque the bolts back and spin the crankshaft a few times, the camshaft goes back to the previous location and the belt is overhanging again. Am I supposed to torque these bolts with the distributor mounted so that the camshaft stays in the correct location? That would at least push it in the other direction and prevent it from shifting.
Okay I guess I fixed it. I loosened all of the IN/EX bolts again, shoved the sprocket and camshaft back out to the correct position, and put the distributor back on before tightening all of the bolts as evenly as possible. Doesn't seem to be moving back anymore. Maybe the distributor holds it in place but that doesn't sound right to me. Idk. Also, RIP these forums.
Not much action on these forums. I have the U44 but in my thread here I see the belt overhangs as well. Sounds like you already dove in to all of this so full steam ahead.
