scary story about a timing belt change

Frank Catena · **Joined:** Wed Aug 27, 2003 1:08 pm **Posts:** 418

You can use the starter and a breaker bar leaning on the floor to apply the force to break the crank bolt loose. Most Miata water pumps last 100K but it's almost no extra labor when doing the belt.
Also do the timing belt tensioner . I did the camshaft and crankshaft seals too, but mines a V-4 :-)

Frank

Aaron Buckley · **Posted:** Thu Oct 01, 2009 2:18 pm

JasonWatts wrote:

All,

Thanks for the offer on helping with the change. my goal is to get some pricing at this point to consider how much money I will have left over to spend on other things. Right now, I am about 5k miles away and am guessing I am a month or two away from needing the work.

If the Miata you have is like the '90-'97 and non-interference, why not just run it until it snaps? Unless it was a daily driver, I wouldn't care about the mileage and when it is due. If you want to do it on time, you can find 100 different threads on the proper way to do it on Miata.net. The beauty of this one is that if you screw it up, no problem, for there will be no damage to the engine. - AB

Frank Catena · **Joined:** Wed Aug 27, 2003 1:08 pm **Posts:** 418

Aaron reminded me .... I did the mark the old timing belt with whiteout and transfer to the new one to get the new one on correctly. Gives you a sanity check about valve timing. Non-interference design helps piece of mind too but its a long way back in if you're off a tooth.

Frank

Ryan Holton · **Posted:** Thu Oct 01, 2009 2:51 pm

Aaron Buckley wrote:

JasonWatts wrote:

All,

Thanks for the offer on helping with the change. my goal is to get some pricing at this point to consider how much money I will have left over to spend on other things. Right now, I am about 5k miles away and am guessing I am a month or two away from needing the work.

If the Miata you have is like the '90-'97 and non-interference, why not just run it until it snaps? Unless it was a daily driver, I wouldn't care about the mileage and when it is due. If you want to do it on time, you can find 100 different threads on the proper way to do it on Miata.net. The beauty of this one is that if you screw it up, no problem, for there will be no damage to the engine. - AB

WINNER!!

WalterHouston · **Posted:** Thu Oct 01, 2009 3:39 pm

I did one along with the water pump last summer for a friend. It was not hard at all! It was about a half a days job for two people.

I don't think I'd just wait for it to break. :roll:

Keith Quistorff · **Posted:** Thu Oct 01, 2009 4:43 pm

Frank Catena wrote:

Aaron reminded me .... I did the mark the old timing belt with whiteout and transfer to the new one to get the new one on correctly. Gives you a sanity check about valve timing. Non-interference design helps piece of mind too but its a long way back in if you're off a tooth.

Frank

The new belt didn't come pre-marked by the manufacturer? That's crazy!

Aaron Buckley · **Posted:** Thu Oct 01, 2009 4:52 pm

WalterHouston wrote:

I don't think I'd just wait for it to break. :roll:

Well, I'll give you the situation: I had my '93 Miata that I bought with 89k on the clock. I was worried about replacing the T-belt until I found out that it was a non-interference engine. The original owner hadn't replaced it and I negotiated that off the price of the car. I sold it with just under 100k to Jim Pastorius brother, without changing it. I am pretty sure he didn't change it until around 150k (on the original timing belt and water pump).

If it were a critical service item in an interference motor, or a car I daily drove, I would have cared more about the interval, but with it being a car I put less than 12k miles on in 2 years, well I saved hassle and money. - AB

RobLupella · **Posted:** Thu Oct 01, 2009 5:47 pm

Aaron Buckley wrote:

WalterHouston wrote:

I don't think I'd just wait for it to break. :roll:

Well, give you the situation. I had my '93 Miata that I bought with 89k on the clock. I was worried about replacing the T-belt until I found out that it was a non-interference engine. The original owner hadn't replaced it and I negotiated that off the price of the car. I sold it with just under 100k to Jim Pastorius brother, without changing it. I am pretty sure he didn't change it until around 150k (on the original timing belt and water pump).

If it were a critical service item in an interference motor, or a car I daily drove, I would have cared more about the interval, but with it being a car I put less than 12k miles on in 2 years, well I saved hassle and money. - AB

That has been my standard practice with non-interference engines too. AAA and just realizing that you may be stuck on the road if s*@t happens is not always a bad thing. I've had two of them go in our old Camry (strangely enough in the exact same location on the off ramp at I-40 and Harrison) and just called the tow truck. :oops:

Maria Winslow · **Posted:** Thu Oct 01, 2009 7:47 pm

RobLupella wrote:

AAA and just realizing that you may be stuck on the road if s*@t happens is not always a bad thing.

I'm going to take this approach to tires when my runflats go. They're ridiculously expensive and hard, so I'll just do without a spare. AAA is so worth it!

WalterHouston · **Posted:** Thu Oct 01, 2009 9:45 pm

It is not worth it t me to break down, usually at an inconvenient time in a bad place. I'd rather spend $150.00 on all the parts and a 1/2 days work. But, I like working on cars as much as driving them.

Wes Eargle · **Joined:** Mon Oct 27, 2003 9:47 am **Posts:** 3683

WalterHouston wrote:

It is not worth it t me to break down, usually at an inconvenient time in a bad place. I'd rather spend $75.00 on all the parts and a 1/2 days work.

Fixed, and I agree.

BriceJohnson · **Joined:** Thu Apr 13, 2006 7:33 am **Posts:** 2230

Maria Winslow wrote:

RobLupella wrote:

AAA and just realizing that you may be stuck on the road if s*@t happens is not always a bad thing.

I'm going to take this approach to tires when my runflats go. They're ridiculously expensive and hard, so I'll just do without a spare. AAA is so worth it!

FYI, you can get VERY gently used runflats really cheap if you look around. I got the 4 on my wife's car for $300 all with 9/32" tread depth left (MSRP=$249/tire!). People take them off with very low mileage a lot. Just an alternate approach.

steve remchak · **Posted:** Sun Oct 04, 2009 8:23 am

BriceJohnson wrote:

Maria Winslow wrote:

RobLupella wrote:

AAA and just realizing that you may be stuck on the road if s*@t happens is not always a bad thing.

I'm going to take this approach to tires when my runflats go. They're ridiculously expensive and hard, so I'll just do without a spare. AAA is so worth it!

FYI, you can get VERY gently used runflats really cheap if you look around. I got the 4 on my wife's car for $300 all with 9/32" tread depth left (MSRP=$249/tire!). People take them off with very low mileage a lot. Just an alternate approach.

runflats suck. expensive, heavy, and harsh riding. and heaven help you if you tear one up in the middle of nowhere.

most car manufacturers offer a kit for fixing flats if no spare is available or you might be able to purchase a temporary spare and a jack if your vehicle has a well for storage.

BriceJohnson · **Joined:** Thu Apr 13, 2006 7:33 am **Posts:** 2230

they do suck, but the cooper s has no place to put a spare. The MINI stays pretty local for most of its trips, so tearing one up in the middle of nowhere isn't a big concern. When we take it to autocross, we throw a spare wheel in my car just in case.

As far as weight, the runflat version of the SP9000 is only 2 lbs heavier than the non-runflat version in my wife's size (205/45-17).

Harsh riding, yes, I'll grant that.

If I had to pay full price for them, I wouldn't run them, but given how cheap you can get takeoffs, thats what I continue to run.

Andrew Jonell · **Joined:** Mon Mar 23, 2009 6:43 pm **Posts:** 1350

JasonWatts wrote:

Wes Eargle wrote:

Miata engines are a) in the proper orientation and b) spin the proper way. :wink:

?? im lost, missing the punch line here.

a) Longitudinal engine most likely means that it's a rear wheel drive car (rwd > fwd joke)
b) Honda's motors spin counter-clockwise

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