TNToy
Well-known member
Thought I'd share this with you guys, since it worked so well.
We had a Toyota Camry come in today, and I did everything related to the timing belt on it (water pump, oil pump cover re-seal, etc). I'm not a Toyota tech, so it's not committed to memory like it would be on one of our vehicles.
I had to remove around 30 10mm bolts from the timing cover and the oil pump cover, and keep track of which bolt went where. As usual with Toyota, there were three different lengths.
So I was setting each part on the workbench, and had a brainstorm when I looked at the sharpie lying there:
1. Crudely sketch each part directly on a sheetmetal -topped workbench, making a dot for each bolt. Write labels if you feel like you need to. If you're really ****, make it to scale.
2. Set each fastener where it belongs on your disfigured giraffe... or maybe that's supposed to be a 5-ZFE Toyta timing cover... I'm not sure.
3. When you're done with reassembly and have pulled the car out, wipe the diagram clean off the bench with a can of brake cleaner... leaving a blank slate for next time. Brake cleaner dissolves permanent marker ink.

Unlike paper or cardboard with the bolts poked through it, the sharpie-on-sheetmetal trick doesn't care if you get grease, oil, or coolant on it. And the wind doesn't blow it away. It's pretty much foolproof as long as you don't spill brake cleaner on it.
Should work for those of you with stainless countertops or toolboxes, too.
We had a Toyota Camry come in today, and I did everything related to the timing belt on it (water pump, oil pump cover re-seal, etc). I'm not a Toyota tech, so it's not committed to memory like it would be on one of our vehicles.
I had to remove around 30 10mm bolts from the timing cover and the oil pump cover, and keep track of which bolt went where. As usual with Toyota, there were three different lengths.
So I was setting each part on the workbench, and had a brainstorm when I looked at the sharpie lying there:
1. Crudely sketch each part directly on a sheetmetal -topped workbench, making a dot for each bolt. Write labels if you feel like you need to. If you're really ****, make it to scale.
2. Set each fastener where it belongs on your disfigured giraffe... or maybe that's supposed to be a 5-ZFE Toyta timing cover... I'm not sure.
3. When you're done with reassembly and have pulled the car out, wipe the diagram clean off the bench with a can of brake cleaner... leaving a blank slate for next time. Brake cleaner dissolves permanent marker ink.
Unlike paper or cardboard with the bolts poked through it, the sharpie-on-sheetmetal trick doesn't care if you get grease, oil, or coolant on it. And the wind doesn't blow it away. It's pretty much foolproof as long as you don't spill brake cleaner on it.
Should work for those of you with stainless countertops or toolboxes, too.
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