JaxMaxHX

Would like to say hi to everyone here and introduce you to my 1997 honda civic hx - which I bought new and now have driven 297,000 miles with not much more than an annual tune-up. This was my first Honda and my first inline 4. I am positively enamered with this little coupe and it's dependability. With that said, I want to say I am in no way a mechanic, but my father and all his brothers and nephews and one niece were and are. So, I do know what an inline 4 looks like and how to do general maintenance. However, I would like to change out the timing belt, water pump this summer. My question is I have priced parts for this from autozone and the parts look like they run about $200.00. They have 2 different brands of timing belts--one is termed a gator belt or something like that and the other I can't remember for sure. Are these quality parts? And is this something I could do in my garage with safety jacks and general mechanics tools?

Redline96LX

Welcome to h-t man. Search through the archives, there is a guy who did a tune up on his mom's green civic del sol regarding this same procedure, so hes got a few tips and pictures about it. This is one part where I really reccomend a OEM part. Id really go to a dealer and get a OEM belt, as a lot of aftermarket ones arent so good, cept like this one brand which is "2.7 times stronger than OEM" but its like really freakin pricey for a rubber belt.

As far as doing it yourself, you will need a jack, cause one engine mount has to be removed. No big thing, but you will need a tranny jack. General tools should work, might need possibly one or two tools.

P.S. My Timing belt/water pump/cam seals service thing was done by a shop that did a good job, but charged $480, so even with the time and OEM parts, still worth it to do it yourself.

screwcitycoupe

A great place to get parts is http://partsandaccessories.com/ I just got atiming belt, tensioner, fuel filter and some other stuff all OEM Honda parts from there for my 98 EX. You just have to look at the pictures and check for the Honda logo.

You should also pick up a shop manual for your car if you plan on doing work like this. It can be a great investment. I got a Helm manual (http://www.helminc.com/helm/ho...52937)as it is more detailed than a Haynes or a Chilton's but it's $75.00 as opposed to $20.00

JaxMaxHX

Thanks for the info, looked at the manual site. $75 bucks is a little stiff, I have the Haynes manual and I think I can do the water pump and TB using that, but we'll see, if not I will spend the 75 smackers. Thanks for the OEM parts site as well, I will see if I can get the parts from them...How long do they usually take to ship?

screwcitycoupe

I ordered the parts on Friday the 27th and they showed up at my door on Wednesday the 1st. They shipped Tuesday, but keep in mind theat Monday was Memorial Day. I paid for the 2-day shipping and they showed up overnight. They shipped from Ohio and I live in Illinois so that probably helped.

JaxMaxHX

I found a couple of other websites for parts and one looked really good---http://www.hondacarparts.com. Ever heard of them? Timing Belt was $30.00 wholesale and the Water Pump was $79.95. They say they are OEM....What do you think? Also, there is another site called carparts.com..???Jc whitney related I think?

screwcitycoupe

The first site has OEM parts and looks like it's through a dealership. I've never dealt with them and their prices are just a bit higher than the site I suggested. It does say all their parts are Genuine Honda so it may be worth a few extra bucks to you if that's what you're looking for. The second site looks like they carry the same stuff Autozone does for about the same price. I would go with OEM parts, but that's up to you to decide.

As a side note, I've never been overly impressed with JC Whitney other than you nearly build a VW bug from the ground up out of their catalog.