Replacing cambelts
 

How long should it take to change them on a V6,

Rev

Hi Jules what Andy was saying it is half a days work
to do them

Yes, maybe, if you know what you are doing (having done it before) and have help and a well equipped garage.
If you have not, have not and have not, work on a couple of days.:getmecoat:

But not a couple of months ;)

It's about six hours leisurely plod with the proper tools :)

Brian :D

I like that "leisurely plod". Sums me up!

Sure, fair comment, but if you are getting where I am getting, you spend more time looking for your tool, cleaning the blinking things the kids left oily, looking for your garage light (that your son lent to a friend, not telling you) tripping over the dog's water bucket that needs filling, after cleaning, and by the time you get to where you've been going, you forgot what you went for. On the way back you come past the dogs water and notice the tap is dripping, and the seal has gone. Next you are digging a hole to shut the water off at the mains, only to find the handle has rusted to pieces and you can't switch it off. Then phone the council to send a repair team, only to hang on to the phone and go through options 1 to 7 before you get to an operator, who promptly hangs up on you, start again, hand the phone to the wife, cuss and swear go to the garage, the dog has stolen one shoe, searching the whole yard for the one shoe, finding it in front of the other door..... sorry, what was the question??

Having just finished doing the job this week all I can say is if you are competent at doing mechanical work and have all of the tools you need (Yes, including the proper cam locking tools) if things go well it can be done in a weekend. I really wouldn't attempt that unless I didn't need the car to get to work on Monday though.
In my case the job wasn't limited to the belts, but also involved changing a cylinder head. As always it was a challenge getting things apart but the head went on well along with a new water pump. Things went a bit sideways when I found excess play in the other intake cam and found that the last guy who took the engine apart had broken the ends of the camshafts then put the timing gears on regardless. I am sure he did the job without the cam locking tools. Changing the cams added pretty much a day what with sourcing parts and made me glad I had the full week off.
I also found it helpful to have all of the needed parts on hand to do the belts including replacement stretch bolts for the pulleys, and whatever else you may need. In my case that included an idler pulley and cam seals. My timing belt tensioner was OK as were my auxiliary belt and it's idler. Of course the engine gave me one last kick when the VIS balance motor died for my test drive. :(

Hi.
I was just wondering if I took it to someone, a few miles away would it be an overnight stay.
As I now know, will be taking it to Lates, he reckons about three to four hours,
Needs it about 09.30, I think he is only about sixty miles away.

Rev

Allow a day taking it carefully.
So much has been written on the forum about this job, but, with the tools it is straight-forward provided you understand how the front cam wheels are clamped to the camshafts. Don't just follow the instructions without undrstanding the principals. Check the proper way to set up the tensioner (info comes with the new one).
Even without the tools it's not difficult, but in this situation do not slacken the front camwheels. No need to remove the exhaust cam covers, just compensate for the camshaft rotation when fitting the rear belts.
As I said, straight-forward if you understand what you're doing. I was initially put off doing this job by the amount written about it and the controversies raised.
I'm sure there will be some photos and videos here and on youtube that may be helpful.