I just finished doing my tb plus other stuff. No way would I try it without the cam locking bar. Get the timing belt kit from www.blaufergnugen.com and rent the special tools kit for $35 (or so). They charge a $350 deposit, but you will get that back and don't have to worry about bending a valve. They also send along some good tips on what is important that Bentleys doesn't tell you. Finally, just mark the crankshaft with Whiteout and that is a good substitute for the locking pin. To tell the truth, I couldn't get the plug out anyway.

 

That "plug" suppose to actually be the crankshaft position sensor.
Thanks for the tips.

 

Chefro,

Lots of your dimensions make sense. It LOOKS like the thread, the important part, is 18 mm X 1.5 mm, MAYBE 17 X 1.5, from a couple pics you post. Probably, because I don't recall 18 mm being standard.

Dimensions on the cam bar, sounds good. Thanks. I can do that.

Cheers,

George

 

Hi George.

According to this site-video clip, one can figure out the thread pitch via measuring.

A)
If one measures an US bolt, then s/he should employ a "inch ruler". The thread pitch should be the number of threads falling within 1 inch.
.
As you see, the count comes down as 18 threads.

B)
If one measures a metric bolt, the pitch should be the distance in-between the top crust of 1 thread and the top crust of the other (next) thread.

As you see, that distance is 1.25 mm.

I hope this helps you better.
Darn, you force me to learn new things...

Good luck with the project, as I'm sure you got all you need now.

How was the salad?

Regards.

 

Has anybody ever used the crank holder I could get the damn plug out and gave up. I know that will bite me in the *** because I really wanted to change the crank seal.
I could not imagine doing a T-Belt without a cam holder.
It may even be advanced for some to not use the crank pin but then again if you strip that stupid *** plug your in for a fun time. I just didn't have a vast selection of 8mm allen sockets at the time.

I also went with the rental from Blauparts.com and don't worry they do return the deposit quickly. call them first and ask how long it will take for shipping though so you can plan to recieve them only a day in advance because there is a time limit before they start charging more. Great company though.

 

Chefro,

That last pic looks more like 1.5 mm pitch. 6 and 9 mm on your tape look too close to be 1.25 mm.

I'll try making one, anyhow. If my pitch guage says it is OK, I'll try screwing it in.

Oh, BTW, foodie that you are, Scott Hams, Kentucky, I think, will ship you a real home cured slab of bacon, 9 to 11 pounds, random weight, for 30 bucks, plus about 9 bucks shipping. Damned good bacon. You gotta slice it yourself, unless you buy their packaged stuff. Lots of smoke flavor. Maybe too much for some. My youngest thinks it is too smoky.

I think it is damned good.

Cheers,

George

 

George, you worked for years with lathes, threads, etc, as you shared with us. You gotta have a formed eye for these things and probabably more technical common sense.

I just realized I gave you a wrong number (1.25), and your eye saw the mistake immediately. Sorry... I guess I had in mind that woman's voice, since I listened several times.
Of course it is 1.5 mm. I haven't lost yet the ability to find my way in the "metric" world, believe it or not.

Again, good catch, and I apologize for the ernest mistake.
About the ham: don't worry, you don't owe me anything, even the trouble of needing to ship a ham I would buy.
Plus, my fav ham is from the Poles. No company around here, and I don't mean to diss any of'em, makes anything close to the taste of an European ham - that I like, of course.

Anyway, good luck making the tools.

Keep in touch.

chefro

 

Not HAM, ***, slanina, bacon. 9 to 11 pound slab, real cured and smoked, tho the website now says 8 to 10 pound, 30 bucks and 9 or 10 shipping. Plus ends and pieces, 2.50 a pound for soup meat. The 10 bucks shipping up to 40 bucks, so buy some soup meat to run closer to 40 and reduce the shipping per pound.

Half decent ham, you can buy anytime. Local store is at 79 cents a pound for their vat cured, stick it with injection needles, pump it full of nitrates, for Easter.

GOOD ham is going to be imported or bought from down South or from the Amish, if you want a real hand cured and smoked ham.

I'll buy a couple, regardless. Beats the hell out of 5 buck a pound jumbo at my local markets, 8 buck a pound ham lunchmeat.

Threads, count how many in an inch, divide into an inch, metric, interpolate, over about .75 mm pitch, goes up by .25 mm. So, 1 mm, 1.25, 1.5, etc. 1 mm is 25 tpi, just about, 1.25, just about 20, 1.5, just over 16. If you count 20 in that inch, it is about .050, 50 thou per thread, 40 thou per mm, so 1.25 mm pitch.

Best yet is to buy a pitch gauge, mesh it with your piece. Only one will fit to the root. Mark on the side of the blade is dead nuts. They are pretty cheap. I have US gauges that you can hardly feel the serrations on the edge. 140 tpi, or so. Needs a good glass to see if it fits into the threads.

Cheers,

George

 

It is nearly impossible to hand drill the four pin holes in the cam lock bar in a perfectly straight line, as drill bits tend to wander. A defective cam lock bar with misaligned pins could result in each cam shaft being off several degrees. This is a simple tool which is difficult to manufacture with the pins in a perfectly staight line. The pins must exactly fit the holes in the cams shafts ends, so that the cam shafts are locked in a staight line.
The BentleyPublishers.com CD is full of errors for the 1996 and 1997 ( 1998 wagon) A6 with AFC engine. The crank pulley should be unbolted from the hub, not the hub unbolted from the crankshaft. The camshaft locking bar should be used when lossening the camshaft bolts (was omitted). This is important if you are doing other engine work such as head gaskets and will be reusing a recently installed timing belt.

 

A6hcw,

Thanks.

Your final line makes more sense. Lock the cam wheels before you start torquing on the bolts. With an iffy belt, you could spin one of the wheels and strip cogs off the belt.

Drilling precisely, I surely wouldn't try to hand drill. I would use one of my mills. I have done stuff like this, as well as repairing machinery most of my adult life..

Chefro,

Back to pic #1: Count the threads, again. Pic is marked 18 tpi. First thread does not start on the 2 1/8 inch mark. That is the beginning of the first thread. 1 thread is when you have circled the bolt 1 time. Your pic shows "about" 17 tpi. 25.4 mm divided by 17 gives you 1.49 mm, which is almost dead on 1.5 mm pitch. The crests on the beginning threads are cut down, making it hard to get an exact dimension and count, as if you could really by just taping it.

Go buy a thread pitch guage. Cheap and accurate, and you will probably need it a few times in the future.

Just for the heck of it, get a 1/2-13 or 3/8-16 US bolt and tape it the same way and count as on that pic. You will probably come up with 14 or 17 tpi. You KNOW that's wrong. I did that some 40 years ago, got called a dumb ***, face red, never made that mistake again.

Cheers,

George