Porsche cuts C2/C4 Technical Page By LG
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--964 Distributor Belt Replacement--

Disclaimer: I am not responsible for any damage that anyone could cause to their car/engine following my recommendations or for any miss-information that I could accidentally provide here.

Changing the Distributor Belt takes patience and attention to detail. Having the right tools is important as well. You shouldn’t even start if you are not serious about finishing.

I spent a full day doing this job in my car. I didn't have instructions or help of any kind. I can start by saying that I recommend everyone to have the job done by one of those shops that charge $150.00 and warrantee 24 hour turn around. Although, If I had to do it again, I could provably do the job in just over a couple of hours.

Besides the obvious tools, you might need the following:

  • Dremmel
  • Drill
  • Very long C-Clamp (about 12 inch opening)
  • Lock washer removal tool
    ***Do not crank or rotate the engine once the distributor has been removed from the car.
  1. Remove the distributor caps and note their position. To do this, you will need to remove the left heater duct, and all the spark plug wires. Make sure to plug the huge opening left by the heater duct so that you don’t accidentally drop a screwdriver into the heat exchanger. Note the positions of each spark plug cable if they are not labeled (mine were labeled).
  2. Mark the position of both rotors in the distributor body. It will be difficult to mark the exact position but for now, an approximate should be good enough. The position is given by gears so when reassembling, it would be either right on your mark or way off. Note that the rotors are not lined up parallel to each other(see above illustration). I recommend you to manually rotate your engine to top dead center -TOC- The above illustration should be a guide to do this.  The advantage of having your engine at TDC is that you can use the factory marks on the distributor and, if by any chance, you have to send your distributor to a shop to have the job finished, having your engine at TDC will be advantageous.
  3. Disconnect the three wire connector from the distributor. Remove the distributor from the car. The whole distributor is held down only by one nut that is located next to the base. It might, however, be difficult to pull it out of the engine because of the vacuum that is created as you slide it out. As you pull it out, it will rotate slightly. Mark the position of this gear in reference to the dist. body and in reference to the shaft to which it is mounted.
  4. Remove the rotors and on the main dist. remove the clip that holds the "BIG PLUG", pull the big plug out and a smaller plug should come out from inside of it.
  5. Remove the three Phillips screws inside the main distributor and push the plug inside the distributor so that the guts can rotate.
  6. Using the correct hex tool, remove 5 hex screws from the distributor (one from between the two distributors and 2 from inside each distributor.
  7. Remove the pin holding the gear at the end of the shaft. Do not waste your time (like I did) trying to save the pin to re-use it. Just drill trough it. You can buy a pin at Pep Boys or other auto-parts store for under a dollar. The pin is set in an unusual way; you will need to drill pretty deep into it before it can be force out. Be careful, both shafts are held in under pressure and as soon as the pin comes out, the pressure will make parts shoot out.
  8. Using the Dremmel, file down the three indents holding the cap at the bottom of the second distributor shaft. Take the cap out carefully. You will be reusing that same cap.
  9. Take out the lock washer at the bottom of the shaft of the second distributor. Again, be careful, this is held under pressure.
  10. If it hasn’t already come out, you can now take out the housing around the belt.
  11. Clean the mess that the old belt made around the housing and distributors. You can use a spray of carburetor cleaner for this or any other cleaner (I’m sure there are more appropriate cleaners available.)
  12. Replace the belt by putting it around the primary distributor (the one with longer shaft) first, turn it to the previously marked position on the distributor body (the rotor position), place the belt around the second distributor. Again, you can put back the rotor and make sure it points towards the previously marked position on the dist. body. Slide the smaller shaft into its housing. You’ll have to try this a few times before you get it right. It helps if you have three hands. I lubricated everything around the shafts before putting it back together.
    Make sure that both rotors are pointing towards the previously marked points on the body. Don’t be an extremist on these positions. The teeth on the belt will make it be right on the money or noticeably off the mark. Note that the two rotors do not point in the same direction. One is slightly ahead of the other.
  13. Insert the gear at the bottom of the long shaft. Using C-Clamps or other means of applying pressure, compress the long shaft of the distributor against the gear itself. Compress it far enough so that you are able to insert the new pin.
  14. Compress the small shaft against the body of the distributor (note that is different from step 13) and insert the lock washer once it is compressed far enough. It helps to use a semi hard piece of wood on the top of the shafts so that the C-Clamp doesn’t mark or damage it.
  15. Continue putting everything back together.
  16. Install distributor back in the car. Note that as it slides in, the rotors turn a few degrees. You will need to off set the rotors from your marks a little so that as they turn when inserting, they end up pointing towards the right place (same place that they were pointing before initial removal) Again, if is in the wrong position it will be very noticeable.

If any one has questions, feel free to CONTACT ME