HELP! Timing belt keeps moving!

[ANVIL]

last year when I got my car up and running I ended up shredding my timing belt and bending all my valves. Ive finally gotten everything back and running pretty well, but now I am running no upper cover to monitor my belt. It wont stay centered for some reason. It keeps moving forward slightly off the cam gears and its causing the belt to VERY SLOWLY shred my timing belt. I dont know what is causing it or what can cause this. I have a new belt, idler and tensioner. The head was put together professionally and basically im stumped and dont want to drive it until i resolve this problem. Does anybody have any idea or maybe a parts diagram for the timing belt? Im thinking maybe my engine was missing some minute part of it to possibly cause the belt to move.

[Carl H]

did you remember to reinstall the guide plates on the crank?

[ANVIL]

did you remember to reinstall the guide plates on the crank?

yeah, one on the inside, one on the outside of the crank sprocket
Modified by ANVIL at 1:40 PM 5/10/2007

[Darius]

How rapidly does it walk off of the cam gears? Is it like two revolutions of the crank or while the engine is running?

I accidentally got a tensioner spring coil behind the tensioner during install so that it did not sit flush against the block and it caused the belt to walk.

[ANVIL]

How rapidly does it walk off of the cam gears? Is it like two revolutions of the crank or while the engine is running?

I accidentally got a tensioner spring coil behind the tensioner during install so that it did not sit flush against the block and it caused the belt to walk.

probablly a few revolutions. i can recenter it by hand on the cam gears, start the car for a few seconds and shut it off and it already goes back to where it was. maybe like 1/8th inch hanging off the front of the cam gears. do you think it could be the tensioner spring itself? the new tensioner i had didnt come with a new spring

[Darius]

I know it is hard to see, but try to look staight down the front of the block. Both the idler and tensioner faces should be parallel with the front of the block. Take your tensioner off again and reset the spring. Be certain that none of the spring coils got caught between the tensioner itself and the block. Sounds identical to what mine did. Only took a couple of revolutions and it was near the edge of the belt.

[ANVIL]

I know it is hard to see, but try to look staight down the front of the block. Both the idler and tensioner faces should be parallel with the front of the block. Take your tensioner off again and reset the spring. Be certain that none of the spring coils got caught between the tensioner itself and the block. Sounds identical to what mine did. Only took a couple of revolutions and it was near the edge of the belt.

? were you running no timing cover or did you already expect something? i found out the hard way, bending my valves

[Darius]

Nope, I always have the cover on when the engine is put together. That one time I was turning the crank by hand while installing the timing belt to set the tensioner. I had done it 20 times before, but that time the belt kept walking and I couldn't figure out why until I stepped back took a good look at it. The only reason a belt will walk is if a pulley is out of alignment. Did you have the motor running before you changed the timing belt and bent your valves?