I undertook the timing belt change a few days ago and it was my first time. I swapped out the water pump, tension pulley, belt, etc. on a 95 Del Sol, D15B7 engine.

One Thing I Did Find Out: if you are having trouble removing the crankshaft pulley bolt and have an automatic transmission, you can crawl under the transmission, remove the two 12mm bolts near the shift linkage, and use a pair of vice grips to put a death grip on the now exposed flywheel and use your breaker bar as usual.

This being said, I had the camshaft at TDC and had the crankshaft locked in place with afore mentioned technique and replaced everything. When I started the engine, I had a rough idle and engine chatter. When I tore it all apart and did it again, I set both the cam at TDC and the crank belt pully notch at the mark on the oil pump. Once the engine was re-assembled, it would turn over but not start. I did use a non-Honda belt. The manufacturer was ITM. It appeared to be the same size. Any ideas? I did save the old belt and may try putting it back on (it wasn't in that bad of shape)

 

Anyone??

 

Use the new belt. Sounds like you did everything ok except you should replace your crank seal (without scratching the crank!). The belt should be installed with little to no slack between the crank and cam gears towards the front sideof the engine. Maye you were off a tooth? Hopefully the chattering noise wasn't the pistons destroying the valves. Also rotate the engine via crank bolt counterclockwise 3 teeth on the cam gear before snugging the tensioner bolt (33 ft lbs.)

I just did this procedure 2 weeks ago on the exact same car/engine and it fired up no prob. The biggest bitch was the power steering bracket.

Good luck.

 

I have heard much about this "3 teeth on the camshaft" thing. Does it mean rotate the cam the distance of 3 teeth, or adjust the belt so that it is 3 teeth past TDC? I also noticed that the number 1 plug wire on the distributor is at the 9 o'clock position when facing it directly, but the book shows it being at 6 o'clock. Any thoughts?

As for the valves being bent, the engine only ran for a short period before being shut off, but after I re-tried aligning it, the engine turns over but wont start. I take it I may have a lot of troubleshooting? Thanks.

 

Count the teeth on the honda belt then your itm belt, and see if they match. The 3 teeth thing, i dont know about. Their are 3 refference marks, 2 dash hoizontally and 1 dash in about a 7'o clock postition and a "up" mark on the face of the cam gear to help put it in timing.