Am I completely screwed if th etiming belt goes ?

Mike.

for one thing, this is what the owners manual will tell you if you read between the lines. another thing is that the timing belt went on my old 4kq (KA) and I did, in fact, bend a few valves. As I'm not entirely sure, so i'm not saying that everyone that says otherwise is wrong, but I know that the 2.22 L5 is interference, and the 2.3 is VERY similar.

the 20V is interference, earlier engines were interference, but I've never seen it explicitly said that the NG is interference, and when I put a 272 cam in, the cam makers said the new cam makes the NG an interference engine, implying it wasn't before...

but its oboviusly a lot safer to assume it is, I guess!

Master Mech. from the old dealership said it wasn't. Aunt just had the t-belt go on her quantum wagon, no bendy-straw valves AFAIK...

The 7A is interference on the inlet side only, just like _some_ of the other VAG 4v setups (duh!).

couldn't turn the crank with my wrench.

even turn my cam with the crank stopped.

it'll turn a bit and hit something.

when everything is setup the engines turns fine.

I wasn't talking about a modified engine...