Tom go ahead and give it a try. How much skin, knuckles and blood do you want to donate? There are some shortcuts for this task, but a lot of them are very intuitive. I have done it w/o removing anything. Just getting to the center bolt of the tensioner requires a rather deep offset box wrench if you don't remove the shroud. Getting the belt off the pulleys and around the fan and shroud is also an interesting exercise. I described the procedures pretty much the way MBZ describes them. It may take a little longer, but you will be happier with the outcome. IMHO why kill yourself!! I'm sure Donnie can probably do this with one hand and his eyes closed, but we all can't be Donnie. And a lot of us do this for fun and investment in the future of our cars. I for one don't feel the need to mechanically challenge myself anymore than I have to or need to. With the cost of parts these days, to me it makes no sense to jeopardize your investment by trying to beat the clock. Just my $0.02. If one feels that the challenge of this project is inadequate, take on a waterpump removal on this engine. Happy fourth. BTW if you really want a challenge, try changing the front cover seal on one of those tranverse mounted GM I-4's or V-6's.
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Jeff Lawrence
1987 300e
1989 300e
1987 BMW 325



[This message has been edited by jeffsr (edited 07-01-2000).]