'95 Civic Coupe, 288k on the chassis, 100+k on a 30k Japanese import.

The previous owner says a new timing belt went in during the engine transplant but there's no record of actual mileage. She gave me a date of when the engine was replaced (2006) and said it was about 100k miles ago. The original engine bricked due to a broken timing belt and the replacement engine is one of those "30k" mile Japanese imports. Unfortunately there's no way to determine the actual mileage on this engine.
At any rate, I'm going to replace the belt for piece of mind.

Couple questions:
-what size is the crankshaft pulley bolt? My guess is it's 17mm?
-I've been reading nightmare stories of these bolts being really difficult to get out. I have a small air compressor and 1/2" drive impact gun. Will this be enough to break the bolt loose or should I invest in one of those special crank pulley tools?

Once I have the car apart It will be difficult for me to make it into town so I'm trying to get everything I need now.

So far I have a timing belt, new tensioner, water pump, and wp gasket. I know cam and crank seals are a popular one to replace since you're in there but I'm going to see how they look first.

 

17 mm crank pulley bolt

You generally need a heavy duty impact gun or the special crank pulley hex tool.

 

im scared of ****ing up the timing on them or misaligning them

 

Take of fly weel cover by the oil pan nd tranny nd stik screwdriver in to jam it..then get pry bar on pulley bolt and jump on it..it works like a charm....

 

x2 on the HEAVY DUTY impact gun, i thought mine was heavy duty and it didnt even budge it

 

Snap on impact gun failed on me

 

I just did my timing belt in may, it was the first time I had ever done it. Everything went smooth.

Just take your time, double/tipple check the timing. It's really not that difficult.

Also, you may want to replace the drive belts while your in there.

If there is a performance/any sort of shop near you just ask how much they want to break the bolt free, and tighten enough for you to get home. I did, I actually had to. lol Faught the bolt for 3 days, and gave up

I didn't replace my seals, they looked fine, and weren't leaking, so I left them alone.

 

Thanks for the tip(s).
I've done timing belts before on much more difficult engines (subaru for instance) so I'm no stranger to making DAMN SURE the marks line up.

I also found this handy write up which has some clever ways to make your own crankshaft tool.

This is one example I think I'll try.


My hope is that, according to the previous owner the timing belt was replaced before the engine went in. Hopefully the shop oiled the threads so it's easier to remove than an original factory seal.