3.1L Questions

[Jogasz28]

Please bear with me:
It appears I can remove the Heads on the '99 3.1L without removing the Timing Chain housing, if so...

1.)At what mileage should the timing chain and sprockets be replaced? It has 70K on it now.

2.) Is the front (driver side) rear piston the #1 Cylinder? The Factory Manual isn't clear for the 3.1.

2.) If I don't have to remove the timing chain cover, can I rotate the engine 'til the #1 cylinder
is coming up on the compression stroke to make sure it's on #1 Cylinder like we did in the
old days?
TIA

[86FieroSEv6]

1) While there is really no hard and fast rule for timing chain replacement intervals, some people will go the extra mile to check for timing chain slack about every 60k or so if they make a habit of dogging their ride. If you commute to work, then you are dogging your ride. In my experience, with proper oil maintenance and selection these timing sets can easily reach 150k. If you do not know the history of the engine I'd go ahead and get it out of there by 100k. This also gives you the opportunity to drop in a fresh oil pump as you will have the oil pan off, don't forget to replace the pickup/screen as well.

2) If you stand in front of the engine (the end with the drive belts), number one will be nearest you on your left. Which is front right oriented to the engine and rear right(passenger side) oriented to the car.

2) Yes

[Jogasz28]

Thank you very much for the info..