60,000 miles, Time Belt?

[BLKITR]

I am almost at 60,000 miles and it is time for the 60,000 mile service. I have never changed a timing belt before, but thinking about giving it a try on the R. I have a service manual for a 1997 integra (I used to have a GS-R). Have any of you done this and what would you rate the difficulty? I read over the procedure in the manual and it doesn't seem all that difficult. Of course, as i have found with other areas, the manual sometimes leaves out steps. (yes its the OEM manual) Are there any surprises I should look out for that aren't stated in the service manual?

Thanks

[Dev]

Isnt timing belt under your 90k service? Maybe 60 is the recomended and 90 is when peolple mainly do it...or maybe I am completely out of my element here.

Research is available on

http://www.c-speedracing.com/howto/timingbelt/tbelt.php

dev

[Blurr]

I had done it. First off I'm not a "mechanic", Dev is right I don't think you have to do this 'till 90,000. But if you road race or race in the track once in a while I'd suggest you change it around 75,000 to 80,000. But if you're still persistent about it just want to let you know that you might as well have the necessary tools and parts to make it easy and to complete. What made it easy for me is having an Air Compressor, that Crank Pulley is a biatch w/o it. Also you might as well have all the other belts and water pump. A lot of work, but take it slow so you don't miss anything critical. Also when I change my belts I went ahead and cut my valve cover to go with my Skunk2 C.S. Warning! TO EVERYONE who will be installing any Aftermarket Sprockets tighten the screws down on the sprockets, trust me I was so stupid and lost some of them. Still looking for some replacements. I hope this could be of some help and heads up on what you're getting yourself into.

[TypeR 801]

I've got near 80K and am beginning to think about the changing the timing belt. Helms says it's not due to at least 90K and I haven't heard of any failures on stock cam'd motors under that. Aftermarket cams are another story...

I haven't done it yet on this car, but the hardest thing I've heard about is that crank pulley. I believe it's reverse threaded, so you'll need to tighten to loosen if you know what I'm saying. Also a great time to upgrade to aftermarket pulleys since you'll have all the accessory belts off. It goes without saying, you should replace the accessory belts and the waterpump while you're in there.

I just did a cam install and the markings from the cam sprockets and crank pulley are leaps and bounds better than the old A1 & A2 VW's I used to work on. Much easier to line things up IMO.

Best of luck if you actually tackle this now. I'd be incline to wait, but if you run you're car very hard (track it often) then it may be good insurance.

I am almost at 60,000 miles and it is time for the 60,000 mile service. I have never changed a timing belt before, but thinking about giving it a try on the R. I have a service manual for a 1997 integra (I used to have a GS-R). Have any of you done this and what would you rate the difficulty? I read over the procedure in the manual and it doesn't seem all that difficult. Of course, as i have found with other areas, the manual sometimes leaves out steps. (yes its the OEM manual) Are there any surprises I should look out for that aren't stated in the service manual?

Thanks

[BLKITR]

I saw in the manual that they say 60,000 miles for severe conditions. I never take the R to the track. I do occassionally get a bit "spirited" in the canyons. I just tend to be a bit paranoid about my R. I think that I will take everyone's advise and wait until 90,000 and do the water pump at the same time.

By the way, where does everyone get parts from? I am looking for a place with good prices on OEM parts like time belt, distributor cap, rotor, fuel filter, spark plugs, etc. Anyone found a great place on line to order that kind of stuff at a good price. The local acura dealerships are outragously expensive.

[BLKITR]

sorry, one other question. Why do aftermarket cams wear the timing belt out faster? Is it because the cams themselves are a different size? Are the teeth sharper in some way? Just curious. I am not planning on changing them, but was a little curious.

[Dev]

stealership...im paranoid like you

[hondafanatic]

here is the deal, your belt isnt gonna break at 100k or probably even 50k

they tell you to change it because it becomes "stretchy" if you replace it your car will feel "snapier" (best work i can think of).

I just changed a 96 civics belt at 98k. It still looked new, now wear, cracks anything.

i also had one break in a prelude. It was a 92 with 190k on the original belt.

Change it every 50k to run the best. You could easily put it off until 100k without breaking.

UNLESS you have done something stupid like cut the belt cover away to expose your cam gears, if this is the case then may god help you if a pebble gets in there.

just my 2 cents.

[George Knighton]

I just changed a 96 civics belt at 98k. It still looked new, now wear, cracks anything.

Be careful, though.

You cannot necessarily tell if a timing belt is worn beyond its strength limits from looking at it. It can look perfectly OK, and then snap 5,000 miles later.

This learned from my old twincam FIAT days. (Yes, I'm that old.)

With a normal ITR not modified, I don't see any reason to change ahead of the normal maintenance.

Because I track my car quite a bit, and because the head was coming off, I replaced my timing belt around 65,000 or so.

If you remove the timing belt, it's a good idea to put a new one on.

You might also want to consider changing the water pump at the same time, even if it looks like it's fine, because going through all that labour 12,000 miles later will be tedious if the water pump goes shortly after you change the timing belt.

IMHO, of course.

[hondafanatic]

We did replace that belt, I would never put a used belt back on after it was off. All that work you might as well.

i still think the service interval is not to protect from snapping the belt it is to replace belts that are not as rigid as they should be. Basically they get stretchy like a rubber band.

[George Knighton]

I don't think timing belts stretch that much, do they? If they do stretch, I'd think you've broken the belting material inside the belt.

That's what the problem is with looking at a belt to see if it's worn.

The strengh of the belt is in the covered re-enforcing material inside the belt, and you can't examine that from the outside.

If you see a belt that has chips or broken teeth...you've waited too long or there's something else wrong.

[hondafanatic]

they do start to stretch over time, stretching a few millimeters over the length is what i am referring to. This affects timing. and when you hit the gas this would create a delay while the belt stretches and changes the timing slightly.

they most definatly wear and the core of the belt is where the strength comes from, however it will become worn and start to "stretch" under load.

[VtecWhore]

belts do strech but there is a tensioner under the timing cover and picks up the slack. i wouldnt reccomend changing out the t-belt at 60k or d.i.y. i am a mechnaic and the dohc cars kinda suck to do a t-belt and specially if you dont have the right tools. at 60k preform valve adjust,oil change, spark plugs/wires. cap/rotor. tranny service. maybe a brake flush. and any other needed services. dealerships are expensive but its the labor your paying for. at my work we charge $85/hour to service your car. but you can take it to a nondealership and pay half and get half the quality(aftermarket t-belt which breaks like noting). just my 2 cents!!!

[hondafanatic]

not stretch perminanatly but under load. The length of the belt increases when you get on the throttle real hard causinga timing distortion between the crank and the cams.