So last night I went to replace my timing belt with the fancy Kevlar
belt from Mini Mania. Not a tough job, yank the radiator and pulley and
replace it. But 2 out of 6 Allen head set screws stripped (the heads)
and of course they were countersunk in the cam sprocket.
So grind slots in them, unscrew them, get new allen head screws close
but not exactly the same.
Might as well paint the radiator and fan assembly while it's out too.
Now I have to wait till today to re-assemble the radiator.
Put it all back together, fire it up and damn if the heads of those new
screws grind on the timing belt cover! Remove cover fix it with a
hammer, it just needed a small dent where the heads showed signs of
grinding away at it. Back together again, fire it up and KA-BANG!
The starter threw it's bendix drive clean off!!! OK, I have a spare
starter, pop out the dizzy, replace the starter, fire it up.
Clang Clang Clang! Oh yeah, where is the old bendix drive?
Somewhere in the bell housing going round and round like a nascar.
OK, pop out the dizzy again, pop out the starter, fish for metal bits
with a magnet only to find it's too heavy for the magnet I have.
But I did get most of it out, I am still missing a piece but it's small,
only about a 1/2" wide and 2 " long, sure beats the 2/3 of a bendix
drive banging around in there.
Starter back in, dizzy back in, no start! WTF!
After an hour of messing around inside the dizzy (electronic) I found I
knocked off the low tension lead on the coil while fishing for bendix
drives. Easy fix once I looked for it.
All is good again, 2 nights spent on a 20 minute job. But my radiator is
nice and shinny and I have a starter to fix.
It figures, this starter was installed at SS03, it was used but it
worked. I just sold the BRAND NEW IN A BOX starter a couple days ago!
Once again, I am running low on starters. Guess I'll be buying a bunch
real soon at the swap meets.
Or I'll go find me an Isuzu starter real soon.
So as someone mentioned on this list the other day.... Read the manual,
do the maintenance when called for, I say NAY.
If it ain't broke, don't fix it!
2 nights of grief for a timing belt that was in perfect order.
--
Frank Clarici
Toms River, NJ
Down to just a few Sprites
http://www.exit109.com/~spritenut
/// unsubscribe/change address requests to majordomo@autox.team.net or try
/// http://www.team.net/mailman/listinfo
/// Archives at http://www.team.net/archive/spridgets
|