I bought a jack and jackstands. I tried to use the picture posted earlier but my "a-arms" appeared to look a little different. Additionally, they were angled downward, but I managed to sorta wedge the jackstands on a part of the knuckle on the a-arms. Still some scary **** though. What do you guys think about supporting the car's weight on the lift points behind the front tires as shown in the manual? Also, the actual jack point, I used the one under the radiator but it was slightly off-center to the right. This is normal right?

Anyways, I couldn't help but be a little scared under there. I know it's sorta ***** of my to admit but I don't feel comfortable with my jack stand point, so I left the car semi-supported by the jack as well. LOL.

 

hmm i didn't know they would be different, sorry about that. lift points behind the front tires make me nervous because it feels like the car could slide off the stands, but i guess if you set the parking brake it should be fine.

the jack point you described is normal

 

It might just be my perception of the underside of the car. What I noticed is that while the a-arms aim slightly downward, there was a point on the a arm where a bolt runs through it, and I could sorta turn the jack stands sideways to get it nice and snug and stable, but is anywhere on the a-arm fair game for jack stands or is there a certain spot I need to be supporting the weight from?

 

yea turn the jackstands sideways so that the support on them points across the car from left to right, and then set them under the horizontal cross in the letter "A" if you look at the a-arms as if they were the letter "A".

 

Trust the service manual. I regularly support my car on two stands using the points rear of the front wheels. I lift the car with a jack using the off-centered front jack point.

 

Cool, good call. I'm on my way to laying this thread to rest but for some reason I keep asking questions. I'm going to an autozone to rent one of their timing lights for a few minutes and since it's 20 miles away, I'd like to do it there in the parking lot. Is there anything that anyone can add to the timing DIY or does that seem to cover it pretty nicely?

 

i just read it to check, and the DIY covered everything, even the part at the end about the dizzy turning slightly when you tighten the bolts. you may end up having to redo it several times before you get it perfect.

 

Nothing wrong with supporting the car with the jacking point behind the front wheel....unless the nose of your car is looking downhill and your ebrake doesn't work...than you'd need luck like my to get out from under the car on time... or you just need to be as drunk as I was, cause sane, sober people know better than that :-D

 

okay, i'm doing something wrong here. I don't see any lines on any of the belts. I got the light working fine and all that, and I'm aiming the light down the drivers side of the engine where there look to be 2-3 belts spinning. there's a little fork above the belt nearest the engine, which resembles the fork in the photo on the DIY. I can't see any lines on any belts though, just a frequent napa logo. What am I doing wrong?

 

the timing marks are on the pulley itself
there's a good picture in the DIY of it