New in the club and new with Puma´s timing belt

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Pablo Puma

Member
Joined
Sep 8, 2021
Messages
33
Location
A Coruña, Spain
Hi everybody, I am new at this forum and I have got some doubts with the Puma´s 1.7 timing. However, first of all I´ll introduce myself. My name is Pablo and I am from the northwest of Spain. Me and a couple of friends bought a 1999 Puma 1.7 mainly for endurance types of races. The car is in pretty good shape but we are doing some basic maintenence to it and one of the things is the timing belt and water pump. The thing is, that the Ford program and programs like Autodata say that you have to use the 303-376 tool to lock the camshafts but to be honest, the fit is pretty weird when the crankshaft is against the locking pin.
I saw that there is another camshaft locking tool, the 303-692, which the ESi-tronic from Bosch says that it has to be used. We didn´t find one so we built it with a 3d printer thanks to a file with all the measurements we found on the internet. The thing now is that, to be able to lock both camshafts (beind the crankshaft at TDC), the intake camshaft has to be moved backwards around 10 degrees making both cam lobes mismatch.

My question is, being the crankshaft at TDC do the camshafts need to have their cylinder 1 lobes at the same height? Wich camshaft locking plate has to be used?
The car is running fine, and there are not any DTC in the ECU, the only thing is that sometimes when you accelerate from around 2500 rpm it hesitates for a second. We can just make marks and use more or less both locking plates we have, but we just bought the car so we don´t know it´s past and I would prefer to be sure.
Also I wanted to post some pictures but I don´t know how to.
Thank you all.
 
Welcome, good luck!

You can post pictures to your threads once you reach 2 posts I believe.
 
Download PDFs:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/fordpuma/files

Cambelt Change Puma 20201001.pdf
Gates_TB036_EN.pdf
Gates Puma 1.7 Installation.pdf
Ford_Puma_Zetec_1.7L_EFI_Manual_Workshop_Manual_1997-2002_.pdf
 
As you can see the locking plate doesn´t fit on the intake camshaft, it would have to be moved backwards. So I don´t know if the 303-692 tool is only used on FRP and the 303-376 on the other engines.
 
The FRP uses a different locking tool.
If you have the standard 1.7 (Non FRP) then you can use the standard Zetec timing tool kit.

Ensure that you use the correct timing pin from the kit to lock the crank as they are different lengths. Off the top of my head I think its was 38mm.

I used the following kit without issues:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/262369218895?ViewItem=&item=262369218895
 
Thank you for your reply DOH. I have the non FRP 1.7, I think that I used the correct pin but I will check it out again for sure. From what you tell me and what I saw on different programs seems that the standard tool is the correct one for my engine, the thing is that it fits in a pretty weird way, the tool's teeth don't cover the total lenght of camshafts grooves, it is difficult to explain for me in english, sorry, I will try to upload a couple of pictures.

Do you remember if the cylinder 1 cam lobes are at the same height being the crankshaft at TDC?
Thanks.
 
Hi Pablo
For info If you use both the search facility which is the box on the top right of the website page and the "How to section", you will find a very comprehensive amount of info on the Puma.

There has been a few posts about cam timing in the past.

From my own personal experience, the inlet because it has VCT moves forwards and backwards quite a bit ,(I guess approximately 30 deg) . I recall that you need to turn the VCT pulley to the end of its travel. The pulleys have been known to go bad by the way and not work properly for changing the timing. Possibly due to people not using 5w30 oil or sludge. So at the very least remove and blow through all the oilways in it with carb cleaner and an airline.

The 2 slits at the end of the camshafts where you install the tool should be horizontal & parallel with the heads rocker(Valve cover) cover face. If 1 of the camshafts is 180 deg out then the slit will be at the wrong height relative to the head to allow you to insert the tool.

After aligning everything as per the Gates guide kindly provided by YOG . Turn the engine two full revolutions by hand Clockwise and try and insert the cam tool.

A few of us have found that the inlet cam is then slightly out. This needs to be corrected by loosening off the stretch bolt behind the oil cap on the VCT pulley so the , tool goes in . Retighten the bolt & 2 more revolutions and recheck.

Everything should then be correct.
 
Ok DOH, thanks a lot for the info, tomorrow I will get my hands on it.

By the way thank you YOG also for the info, to be honest I didn't see your post until DOH mentioned it, don't know what happened, it is the first time I used this site so I was a bit lost at first.

I had already checked that info myself, but even after reading it I wasn't sure about the correct cam locking plate tool and how it had to fit. That's why I needed somebody that had done it before. Anyway, I finally found what tool is used for in each case in the Ford program.
puma[1].jpeg
frp[1].jpeg

Well, thank you guys, I will let you know how it goes.
 
Hi guys, I just finished the Puma today, I haven't been able to deal with it until today (my wife is pregnant and we are renovating the apartment so there is a lot going on). We used the 303-376 tool in the end and it runs perfect and it doesn't hesitate anymore around 2500 rpm. Using this locking tool the intake and exhaust cam lobes don't coincide at the same height so the intake camshaft was not properly timed the last time the cam belt was changed.
Thanks for all the advice.
 

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