So you are thinking about doing the timing belt?

Bauer · Postby **Bauer** » Sun May 08, 2011 7:59 pm

In the words of Nike - Just do it. There has been a thread or 2 lately around this topic so I wanted to view my thoughts.

Procrastination. The art of putting off what you should have done. Instead you wait and wait and wait until you end up in the sh*t.

You guessed it. Mine broke. A simple afternoon drive to Bunnings and "silence" uh oh. Pulled over. Wound it over. Hmm that doesnt sound like the bottom end is getting any resistance. Took the oil cap off to confirm my fears and yup. no spinning camshaft.

So I got a neighbour to tow me home and I spent today pulling it down (with a decent break for mothers day lunch). Will gather bits and put it back together next weekend.

The moral of my story is that if it is due, do it. Dont wait like I did. I have had some of the parts for the better part of a year and simply kept putting it off as Im too busy. Now my hand has been forced and it is inconvenient at best.

I took some pics of the broken belt. I was expecting teeth to be shredded off and not for it to be busted. I will post them at some point.

bugger

gslender · Postby **gslender** » Sun May 08, 2011 8:19 pm

Dang! That blows.....

G

timk · Postby **timk** » Sun May 08, 2011 8:32 pm

Ditto... I bought an old NA and it broke a street away from my house, just after I had dríven it up from Melbourne to Brisbane! Very fortunate!

I too took the oil cap off to confirm it was the belt.

NMX516 · Postby **NMX516** » Sun May 08, 2011 8:43 pm

Just out of interest, how many kms had it done? roughly.....

xmx106 · Postby **xmx106** » Sun May 08, 2011 9:11 pm

Very lucky that these are not an interferance engine.
I did my belt recently when the water pump seal went, its not that bad a job to do really but I guess we put off the unknown it you havnt done it before it seems challenging.
My NA is a grey import eunos roadster so unsure of the sevice history, it has 104,000 klm's on it, so good time to do the belt, however the belt I pulled off looked really good.
That 3rd bottom coil pack bolt is a bitch, luckily I had a 3/8" drive flexible head ratchet, it fits in perfectly.

Bauer · Postby **Bauer** » Sun May 08, 2011 9:31 pm

NMX516 wrote:Just out of interest, how many kms had it done? roughly.....

215k so it was due and I knew it. Lesson learned you might say

I could see evidence that it has been done before so I assume it was the 100k change but that could have been done at 60k for all I know. I also found that the front seal was weeping and the belt was oily so that would shorten the life of the belt too.

As for the hesitation to do it, I sure did. Not for lack of my ability - I was a mechanic in my youth so Im comfortable in my basic mechanical ability - it was more of a fear of the unknown as far as what may happen, what else I might find etc. I have never really done any major work at home. I have always had a fully equipped workshop to help when things dont go as planned.

As it happens, all good so far. The final win before I lost daylight was to get the crank bolt out. If anyone in Launceston needs a crank holding tool for a 1.8, the one I whipped up worked fine. Just happened to find a piece of steel that would do the job thanks to an old Foxtel dish bracket

project.r.racing · Postby **project.r.racing** » Sun May 08, 2011 9:58 pm

I brought my car with 83,000km on it. Drove it to 265,000km and replaced the whole motor. Never changed the timing belt. Did multiple motorkhanas, track days etc. Still didn't break.

93_Clubman · Postby **93_Clubman** » Mon May 09, 2011 12:13 pm

Tks for letting us know Stu as we don't often hear of timing belts breaking on this forum (which of course isn't to say they don't break if not replaced). Also useful to know the kms, that the belt was oily, & appears to have been replaced sometime before.

Bauer · Postby **Bauer** » Mon May 09, 2011 7:50 pm

93_Clubman wrote:Tks for letting us know Stu as we don't often hear of timing belts breaking on this forum (which of course isn't to say they don't break if not replaced). Also useful to know the kms, that the belt was oily, & appears to have been replaced sometime before.

They sure do break

project.r.racing · Postby **project.r.racing** » Mon May 09, 2011 8:41 pm

S-N-A-P-!!!

KAM · Postby **KAM** » Thu May 12, 2011 1:58 pm

I would recommend changing it when its due.
The belt on our 2L Escort snapped at 110K
Damn inconvenient when you're miles down the track in Darwin
No oil leaks and it looked in good condition, luckily it was also a non interference engine.

Bauer · Postby **Bauer** » Sun May 15, 2011 3:00 pm

Well Im back on the road. All went well.

Had some difficulty in getting the timing marks to align once the belt went on. A 3rd hand would have done wonders but using the 2 spanners and vice grips tip to hold the cams in place helped a lot. After it was going I had a small water leak at the clamp of one of the bypass hoses and I had one of the aux belts a little tight. Once that was right, off I go.

Cant thank the internet enough for guidance. This forum for one, MX5 Unleashed was also a great help. That dude with the crown on his head taught me some of the little things in his youtube vids.

Final tip for those about to do it, treat it like a carpenter does. Measure twice, cut once. By that I mean do the research to know what you need to do and take your time.

:NA8:

xmx106 · Postby **xmx106** » Sun May 15, 2011 3:22 pm

Getting the alignment marks is very hard the cams have a mind of their own, I know they say not to clamp or lever the belt in any way, but I needed a third hand, so I used one of those small spring loaded plastic clamps that you get in a pack of 5 for light glueing jobs and just used it to hold the belt onto the top edge of the right cam wheel at the 1200 oclock position. I had been battling for an hour or more until I did that move. Dont think it would have damaged the belt, I can put one on my finger, well for 30 seconds anyway.
Job done and back on the road thats all that counts, the internet is very handy when it comes to finding out what you need to do, Mike the miata king has some good info.