You can see in this picture the relationship between the belts and the crankshaft damper / pulley . From the pics you can see you don't need to remove the lower pulley to slip the belts on at the bottom, there is a sufficient gap between the big pulley at the bottom and the lower cam belt pulley. In fact, I would suspect that even with the engine out, no one would remove the lower pulley to fit the belts, it's just unnecessary. But you do need to take off the lower pulley to change the crankshaft oil seal (or the oil seals on the lower cam belt pulley ) at which stage you do need the angle grinder to "clearance" the crossmember. Not only does that save time & money, but the car also becomes a little lighter, so it goes better too. Image Unavailable, Please Login
