The Acura Legend & Acura RL Forum - View Single Post

The_Iceman · 05-03-05, 08:13 PM

32. Once you have removed the HB remove the timing belt cover. All 10mm bolts. Keep them in order as they are different sizes. You now have full access to the timing belt and water pump. Unfortunately it was a saturday morning and I was in a rush to finish this part so I didn't grab the camera during this replacement. I did take a picture of the old water pump/SHOULDER CANON. This thing has a lot of 10mm bolts so undo them all keep them in order and remove the water pump. Make for certain that you clean the old gasket material from the block before you put the new one on. I used the dremel tool with a small wire brush connected. Take your time and get all the old RTV sealant off there. If you don't have a smooth clean surface, you will have leaks and this is a pain to get to so do it right the 1st time please! Once all the material is removed, use a shop towel and ACETONE to clean the surface of debris and oil. Now your ready to put the new pump on. Don't forget to replace the rubber gasket on the pump side as well. Now I used High Temp RTV sealant when I replaced. This may have been over kill but there are no leaks right now so I guess I made a good decision. Look in the book for the torque specs on tightening this down. Do not OVERTIGHTEN! You break a bolt in that block and you'll be sorry.

33. I took the picture out of the service manual for how the timing belt is to be routed around all it's components. Please be sure you do this correctly. I wish I had taken a picture before I put the cover back on. This is the easiest part of this repair so I would just replace these parts if your on the fence about it. My belt was still in good condition so I didn't have to buy a new one. Be mindful when putting the plastic cover back on as there are guides on the cover as well. Just look at it and it will make sense. No biggy here. Now when you put the HB back on just do the opposite with the leverage setup mentioned earlier. Check the manual for the torque settings. You have to really lay into this so be just as careful as when you were taking it off.

34. Since we are in a cleaning mood let's go ahead and clean up the block. I used a combination of DREMEL tools and abrasive pads that went into my electric drill. You may see some small pits on the block surface, these cause no harm. Just clean all traces of the old gasket off the block. Be carefull not to over do it with an abrasive pad that is too course. You do not want to make the surface uneven. Use the dremel tool with wire brush to clean the thin cylinder ring surface. Here are some pics of my block after I cleaned it. It's the best I could do. I took my time and got it all off there. Hit it with some ACETONE to get the oil off there. You can also remove the oil orifces. I didn't and found out I could have later. I even sanded them a little. I guess they were in good shape because I am having no problems but replace them as indicated in the service manual. They have threads in the center hole that you can put a screw in, then pull them out. There are new o rings in the gasket set for this.

Here are some pics before and after my garage mechanic valve job. You may probably think I was crazy to do this myself but take a look at the before and after pics. Without a machine shop that's one h*ll of an improvement. Like I said I don't recommend this but hey I'm having no problems to date. Car is running like a dream. A few swirl surface marks on the right hand side of the head created by my drill pad, but they are not scratched or scored. Notice the condition of the valves in the after pic. I used some chemicals from auto zone to soak them in. The rest is basic easy off oven cleaner, simple green, and carb cleaner. Not bad huh?

------------------------------------------------------------------------
HEAD REINSTALLATION

35. Grab your can of acetone and a shop towel. Clean the block and head mating surfaces thoroughly. Now when your putting the new gaskets on, make sure you identify the right head gasket and the left head gasket. The right side has an "R" in the lower left corner. Position them carefully on the block and over the pin dowels. Now this is the hard part. Grab the head with the exhaust manifold attached and re-mount each side. Do this very carefully as to not cause the gasket to move out of its correct position. It's good to have help when putting the heads back on. They are heavy and precision is a must. Once you have the pin dowels lined up, the heads will slide down flush. Just wiggle them down alternating from corner to corner until there are no gaps. The exhaust may or may not line up but not to worry, the Y pipe moves so you can connect them once under the car later. Again let's ensure that you have the new gaskets on the correct side and not upside down. Triple check before mounting the heads.

36. Coat the bolts with engine oil prior to installation. Using the tightening sequence described earlier, begin to tighten the head bolts. DO NOT TORQUE THEM TO SPEC JUST YET. Turn each bolt in sequence until they start to get a little tight. I stepped my torque wrench up a little at a time ie: 20 - 40 - 50 - 56 foot pounds. Do the same for both the left and right heads and the hard part is complete.

37. Coat the cams with a little engine oil prior to reinatallation. Reinstall your cams and rocker arms. Before you clamp everything down be sure to attach the cam gears to the shaft (but don't bolt on) and line up the timing marks. If you miss this you can do it later but it's better to do it now because they are hard to turn once bolted down. There are new seals in the gasket set for the cam shafts. You need to use new plug seals on the rear shaft and apply RTV to the points noted in the manuals. Read the book for exact locations. Follow the sequence from before and be careful not to over torque the bolts. I broke one because I read the setting wrong on the 6mm bolt. I had to special order 1 bolt which took 1 week. I was HOT

Mad down time! JUST FYI THE (6MM BOLTS ARE 9FOOT POUNDS) AND THE (8MM BOLTS ARE 16 FOOT POUNDS).

38. Once you have both cams and rockers assembled and torqued down, mount the cam sprockets and torque to spec. They will rotate a little during torque but will bounce back into place without turning out of TDC position. At this point you should finish the timing belt install around the left sprocket first then the right last. It's a little tricky but if you have the tensioner bolt loose enough you can get it on there. Work it and it will go. Once you have it on completely, tighten the timing belt tension belt to spec and use the HB pulley tool to rotate the crankshaft around a few times. this will ensure that it is on good and that you have threaded it correctly. Inspect thourougly. I had to loosen and tightne my tensioner bolt a few times to get satisfactory tension on the belt. Push on the same part of the belt you used to release the tension to test for snugness!!!

39. Now you can reinstall the cam shields and covers. Use new gaskets where needed. Here is the extremely important part, Reinstalling the Valve Covers. First put new O rings on the spark plug cavities. Next grab te new gaskets for the covers and apply a few beads of RTV to hold them in place in the covers. i did this holding the covers up side down. the left side is pretty easy because you have more room to position it correctly. Just ensure that the gasket is flush and not out of place ANYWHERE. The right side however, you have to get it under the A\C line. Be very carefull about putting this one on right. It's a beast. If you do not have these things sealed properly you will end up with oil all over the ground about 1 minute after you start the car. I lost all of my synthetic oil when I first started my car because I did not pay close enough attention to this seal $$$$\quart. It was a mess so learn from me and quadruple check it, no matter how long it takes. Once I fixed the seal it took days before all the excess oil burned away so I wasn't sure if I had a good seal or not. I had to remove a lot of brackets and hoses just to correct my mistake. Torque the bolts down but not too tight as to buckle the gaskets. Make sure you connect your ground cable to the right cover on the lower right bolt.

NOTE: Now that I look back on it I would RTV the gasket at small points around the valve cover(NOT ON THE HEAD MATING SIDE THOUGH, ONLY THE GASKET TO COVER SIDE) and let it dry prior to installing. DO this the day before you need to install them. This should hold the gasket in place and allow you to maneuver the cover into position without worry. Dont pile the RTV on either... use a little class......refine yourself.

05-03-05, 08:13 PM	#12 (permalink)
The_Iceman Registered User Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: baltimore Posts: 38 Car 1: 1994-95 gs sedans iTrader: (0)	32. Once you have removed the HB remove the timing belt cover. All 10mm bolts. Keep them in order as they are different sizes. You now have full access to the timing belt and water pump. Unfortunately it was a saturday morning and I was in a rush to finish this part so I didn't grab the camera during this replacement. I did take a picture of the old water pump/SHOULDER CANON. This thing has a lot of 10mm bolts so undo them all keep them in order and remove the water pump. Make for certain that you clean the old gasket material from the block before you put the new one on. I used the dremel tool with a small wire brush connected. Take your time and get all the old RTV sealant off there. If you don't have a smooth clean surface, you will have leaks and this is a pain to get to so do it right the 1st time please! Once all the material is removed, use a shop towel and ACETONE to clean the surface of debris and oil. Now your ready to put the new pump on. Don't forget to replace the rubber gasket on the pump side as well. Now I used High Temp RTV sealant when I replaced. This may have been over kill but there are no leaks right now so I guess I made a good decision. Look in the book for the torque specs on tightening this down. Do not OVERTIGHTEN! You break a bolt in that block and you'll be sorry. 33. I took the picture out of the service manual for how the timing belt is to be routed around all it's components. Please be sure you do this correctly. I wish I had taken a picture before I put the cover back on. This is the easiest part of this repair so I would just replace these parts if your on the fence about it. My belt was still in good condition so I didn't have to buy a new one. Be mindful when putting the plastic cover back on as there are guides on the cover as well. Just look at it and it will make sense. No biggy here. Now when you put the HB back on just do the opposite with the leverage setup mentioned earlier. Check the manual for the torque settings. You have to really lay into this so be just as careful as when you were taking it off. 34. Since we are in a cleaning mood let's go ahead and clean up the block. I used a combination of DREMEL tools and abrasive pads that went into my electric drill. You may see some small pits on the block surface, these cause no harm. Just clean all traces of the old gasket off the block. Be carefull not to over do it with an abrasive pad that is too course. You do not want to make the surface uneven. Use the dremel tool with wire brush to clean the thin cylinder ring surface. Here are some pics of my block after I cleaned it. It's the best I could do. I took my time and got it all off there. Hit it with some ACETONE to get the oil off there. You can also remove the oil orifces. I didn't and found out I could have later. I even sanded them a little. I guess they were in good shape because I am having no problems but replace them as indicated in the service manual. They have threads in the center hole that you can put a screw in, then pull them out. There are new o rings in the gasket set for this. Here are some pics before and after my garage mechanic valve job. You may probably think I was crazy to do this myself but take a look at the before and after pics. Without a machine shop that's one hll of an improvement. Like I said I don't recommend this but hey I'm having no problems to date. Car is running like a dream. A few swirl surface marks on the right hand side of the head created by my drill pad, but they are not scratched or scored. Notice the condition of the valves in the after pic. I used some chemicals from auto zone to soak them in. The rest is basic easy off oven cleaner, simple green, and carb cleaner. Not bad huh? ------------------------------------------------------------------------ HEAD REINSTALLATION* 35. Grab your can of acetone and a shop towel. Clean the block and head mating surfaces thoroughly. Now when your putting the new gaskets on, make sure you identify the right head gasket and the left head gasket. The right side has an "R" in the lower left corner. Position them carefully on the block and over the pin dowels. Now this is the hard part. Grab the head with the exhaust manifold attached and re-mount each side. Do this very carefully as to not cause the gasket to move out of its correct position. It's good to have help when putting the heads back on. They are heavy and precision is a must. Once you have the pin dowels lined up, the heads will slide down flush. Just wiggle them down alternating from corner to corner until there are no gaps. The exhaust may or may not line up but not to worry, the Y pipe moves so you can connect them once under the car later. Again let's ensure that you have the new gaskets on the correct side and not upside down. Triple check before mounting the heads. 36. Coat the bolts with engine oil prior to installation. Using the tightening sequence described earlier, begin to tighten the head bolts. DO NOT TORQUE THEM TO SPEC JUST YET. Turn each bolt in sequence until they start to get a little tight. I stepped my torque wrench up a little at a time ie: 20 - 40 - 50 - 56 foot pounds. Do the same for both the left and right heads and the hard part is complete. 37. Coat the cams with a little engine oil prior to reinatallation. Reinstall your cams and rocker arms. Before you clamp everything down be sure to attach the cam gears to the shaft (but don't bolt on) and line up the timing marks. If you miss this you can do it later but it's better to do it now because they are hard to turn once bolted down. There are new seals in the gasket set for the cam shafts. You need to use new plug seals on the rear shaft and apply RTV to the points noted in the manuals. Read the book for exact locations. Follow the sequence from before and be careful not to over torque the bolts. I broke one because I read the setting wrong on the 6mm bolt. I had to special order 1 bolt which took 1 week. I was HOT Mad down time! JUST FYI THE (6MM BOLTS ARE 9FOOT POUNDS) AND THE (8MM BOLTS ARE 16 FOOT POUNDS). 38. Once you have both cams and rockers assembled and torqued down, mount the cam sprockets and torque to spec. They will rotate a little during torque but will bounce back into place without turning out of TDC position. At this point you should finish the timing belt install around the left sprocket first then the right last. It's a little tricky but if you have the tensioner bolt loose enough you can get it on there. Work it and it will go. Once you have it on completely, tighten the timing belt tension belt to spec and use the HB pulley tool to rotate the crankshaft around a few times. this will ensure that it is on good and that you have threaded it correctly. Inspect thourougly. I had to loosen and tightne my tensioner bolt a few times to get satisfactory tension on the belt. Push on the same part of the belt you used to release the tension to test for snugness!!! 39. Now you can reinstall the cam shields and covers. Use new gaskets where needed. Here is the extremely important part, Reinstalling the Valve Covers. First put new O rings on the spark plug cavities. Next grab te new gaskets for the covers and apply a few beads of RTV to hold them in place in the covers. i did this holding the covers up side down. the left side is pretty easy because you have more room to position it correctly. Just ensure that the gasket is flush and not out of place ANYWHERE. The right side however, you have to get it under the A\C line. Be very carefull about putting this one on right. It's a beast. If you do not have these things sealed properly you will end up with oil all over the ground about 1 minute after you start the car. I lost all of my synthetic oil when I first started my car because I did not pay close enough attention to this seal $$$$\quart. It was a mess so learn from me and quadruple check it, no matter how long it takes. Once I fixed the seal it took days before all the excess oil burned away so I wasn't sure if I had a good seal or not. I had to remove a lot of brackets and hoses just to correct my mistake. Torque the bolts down but not too tight as to buckle the gaskets. Make sure you connect your ground cable to the right cover on the lower right bolt. NOTE: Now that I look back on it I would RTV the gasket at small points around the valve cover(NOT ON THE HEAD MATING SIDE THOUGH, ONLY THE GASKET TO COVER SIDE) and let it dry prior to installing. DO this the day before you need to install them. This should hold the gasket in place and allow you to maneuver the cover into position without worry. Dont pile the RTV on either... use a little class......refine yourself. Last edited by The_Iceman : 06-07-05 at 11:53 PM.