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I deciede to give it a go myself

I started to horde some parts:
water pump
oil seals
gas kits
timming belt



To remove the VVT you have to undo this large 19mm looking banjo style bolt it has two copper washers just like a break banjo bolt, its easy to drop the 2nd washer. Because of the nature of this bolt it will not take a lot of torque to snap it.



The sparks came out and the ignition leads i use ngk iridium sparks



The cam cover comes off I took it off in two pieces you must lift it staight up because I have this VVT thing



I have removed the intake tube, radiator, thermostat, the plastic under engine bay thing, to make life easy i have also removed the front sway bar so I can turn the crank and get TDC.



I have removed the cam cover and this is a pic of the old belt

Will post up more pics as I go along...

Seeming I took the old sway bar out now is a good time to get ready for the new sway bar....

you got my respect for your DIY man. good effort.

sliq wrote:you got my respect for your DIY man. good effort.

especially for covering the cams protecting them from dust.

but your engine bay does need a clean

StanTheMan wrote:

sliq wrote:you got my respect for your DIY man. good effort.

especially for covering the cams protecting them from dust.

but your engine bay does need a clean

because that extra dust is weight

Its all done im just trying to bolt everything back together now, but its gettting dark and im being eaten my mozzies

The timming belt covers come off the top one is held on by 4 10mm bolts

The lower cover comes in two parts

the smaller part is held on with one 10mm bolt and the other half is held on with 3 10mm bolts one being longer than the other two. A dip stick is used to assess TDC it is put into the fist hole where the spark plug used to live.



The VVT cam is held on with a 17 mm bolt you must remove the three torx screws to gain access to this bolt, some oil will seep out so get some rags ready, the vvt cam has its own markings



Both cams were removed and both cam gear oil seals were replaced



The water pump is removed by unscrewing four bolts their torqe is very little like 20 pounds, the front main crank bolt is removed along with the key and its gear, The frong main crank bolt is 21 mm the bolt is quite large and its torqe spec is 120 pounds. The key has orientation so be sure to know how to put it back when you pull it out. In the seccond pic the front main seal has been removed and will now be replaced with a new front main seal.






the new belt is a gates blue timming belt



The cam gears are set with their marks and held on place with a set of vice grips

Hey mate. Thanks for all the photos. I am considering doing a timing belt and water pump change in my NA6.
What sort of torque wrench did you use/have/buy? as i need to buy one for the job. Do you know what the maximum torque (in Nm) that you needed was? so i know what torque range to look at when buying a wrench.

Also is there any chance that you can post the parts you used, along with brands, price and where you bought them? Although it's not of direct use to me, I am sure other member who are considering doing the job would really appreciate the extra detail and costing info so they know what they are up for.

Cheers,
Emil

Hey, how did this go Wun. I heard a rumour that your car still hasn't started yet

Ben

Nope has not started yet too busy working and rainy to figure it out...

will sort it out this weekend maybe

virtually any automotive torque wrench that you buy will be suitable. The conv of 1lb ft to Nm is X1.35582. It is amazing that after more than 30 years we are still having to put up with imperial references when most people are not familiar with that inferior system. Buying parts- places like Bursons can assist and pricing can be compared to dealer and others. Borrowing a torque wrench is an easy option.
Now for Wun to get it going- piccy's very good.

Is the timing set up very different with VVT?

If you installed the timing belt with the cam gears like that on an NA6/8 you be a tooth out.

I do understand that things change when assembling but if the car is not starting.....

Car has started my mistake was the crank sensor bolted on backwards (thing circled in yello) both bits circled in red needs to be nearly touching each other there are little marks on the crank pully that kinda trigger the sensor but because its on backwards the car wouldnt start. lol



Car runs rough I think Im a tooth out, and I have water leaks dripping down the front of the engine.

When I say it runs rough I hold it at 2000 rpm and it drops revs and stuff like and idles a bit high I think etc.

I think the VVT is harder because on the intake cam there are fewer reference marks, but you still get all the propper marks on the exhaust cam.

So this is stock timming belt when it was correct all the red circles have reference marks on them in the blue circle the reference marks are missing!



Will sort it out when I have some time but no where near as fun the 2nd time round...

The most amout of torque is 120 for the 21mm crank bolt so you can get my torqe wrench which is from 20 to 120 made by sidchrome but its kinda expensive, all the cam cover bolts are in inches so they are super lite torque (I dont have this yet). I probably woudnt lend my torque wrench to anyone people might use it to undo bolts and stuff it up.

I hear some engines have a hole somwhere and you poke a needle into it and if the needle goes all the way though your cams and stuff are all lined ready for the belt, does mx5 have this line up hole for nubes??

didnt you make you own marks before removing the gears?

my thought was always to put a little blob of whiteout or texta on both the gear, and the block so you can use those as reference.

I should have marked the VVT cam, but the number of teeth on the belt between the two cams are right. Im not sure if ha I have to move it up or down one gear but will find out when I have time...