Help: Info on Timing Belt Replacement: 97 Impreza

That's for sure. I turned it over before the radiator was back in just to make sure I wouldn't have to tear all back down again.

Henry

Oothlage, can you tell us specifically how you got access to the flywheel??

I had to weld a tool to hold the crank pulley on my 97 2.2L Impreza. Worked, but a pain.

I have photos of removing the cam pulley bolts using the old belt Visegripped around the crankshaft as a holder. Worked fine.

I'll try to put those photos up. If you can tell us how to get at the flywheel this may become a no-special-tooling job!

Happy to say my Impreza is running fine for 250 miles, with zero oil on the front of the engine.

It's a lot easier to find than I thought........ It is a rubber square, about 2 or so inches on each side. First, locate the flywheel housing from the passenger side. It is on top of the engine, radiator side of the flywheel housing and slightly below and behind the intake manifold. I just wedged a punch in there good and had someone hold it while I broke the bolt loose. I had to use my 2ft. breaker bar to get it. I had to maneuver around some vacuum hoses to get to it. The rubber cover is just sitting there. There is a little tab and you can lift it right off.

I used a rubber strap wrench on the cam bolts. It looks like an oil filter wrench with a rubber strap instead of the metal one that my filter wrench has. I'm sure it works just like your belt and vise-grips.

So far, it is running great! The patient is a '95 Impreza 1.8 engine. My next project is my '96 2.2 Oh yeah, I was able to compare the 2 engines side-by-side. The only real difference I noticed on the Impreza is EJ18 and EJ22 on the block. That was about all I could find at a glance.

Henry