{"id":5878,"date":"2022-06-14T05:03:00","date_gmt":"2022-06-14T05:03:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/?p=5878"},"modified":"2024-02-08T09:47:20","modified_gmt":"2024-02-08T09:47:20","slug":"mx5-cam-belt-gasket-cont-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/?p=5878","title":{"rendered":"CARS: MX5 Cam-belt & Gasket, cont"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Yet another strip down and rebuild!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

At this point I\u2019m starting to lose count of how many times I\u2019ve taken stuff apart and put it all back together. But I guess it\u2019s all good, in a way? As with repetition comes better facility. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m posting this in its proper timeline sequence, but retrospectively. And as a result I\u2019m a bit sketchy on detail. But I think at this point I had the engine back to life, running. But it wasn\u2019t sounding strong or healthy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Behind the harmonic damper, lies the four-toothed trigger wheel.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I.e. the timing was still out somehow. My intuition told me that it was probably the trigger wheel. which can be seen behind the harmonic damper in the above image. Just two of the teeth are visible in this shot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In removing all of this stuff initially – trigger wheel, damper\/pulleys, and central crankshaft wheel – I\u2019d needed to use mucho persuasion! This lead to the trigger wheel getting somewhat deformed, by the time I\u2019d banged\/prised it orff\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I used numerous hammers, mainly large heavy soft-headed types, and some vice compression action, to flatten the bugger! And then I re-installed it, making sure it was properly aligned: concave face forward, convex rearward, locator pin in hole, and engine TDC, resulting in the top tooth (of just four!) being just past 12 o\u2019clock. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Checking timing alignment hasn\u2019t shifted out of whack. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

With the trigger wheel replaced and hopefully now in its proper position, I had to once again set up the timing. By now I\u2019m getting quite good at this. That said, it\u2019s always hard work!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Ditto\u2026<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I didn\u2019t super document any of this, given I\u2019d done it all before. Instead I photographed the bits that were specific to the days\u2019s work <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pictured below was a bit of lower engine detail I\u2019d missed before. The plastic clip and metal doodad I\u2019m holding should be affixed to part of the three-part front engine cover, which protects the cam-belt and pulleys. but two thirds of that isn\u2019t back on, due to it being k-nackered!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A sundry fixing item, to be removed.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Once this fixture was removed I cable-tied the lead out of harms way. All of this business required, once again, the drainage and removal of the radiator and various pipes and hoses. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A rather pricey Mazda plastic radiator plug.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Having lived with a bodged radiator plug fix up till now, the arrival of a new genuine Mazda radiator plug was most welcome. There they are, directly below, and facing the same way. The old one is completely jiggered!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Old and busted vs the \u2018new hotness\u2019!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

With the trigger wheel properly installed, and the new radiator plug allowing a coolant refill, I took her around the block, and then parked her up in her accustomed spot. And all was well! (Aside from the persistent coolant leak!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Finally she\u2019s off the drive and back on\u2019t road!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

By close of play today the engine was running much more smoothly. And where before she\u2019d struggled as you increased revs, she was now sounding consistently healthy across the whole range. Result!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At this point I\u2019m starting to lose count of how many times I\u2019ve taken stuff apart and put it all back together. But I guess it\u2019s all good, in a way? As with repetition comes better facility. I\u2019m posting this in its proper timeline sequence, but retrospectively. And as a result I\u2019m a bit sketchy … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “CARS: MX5 Cam-belt & Gasket, cont”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paGwUa-1wO","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5878"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5878"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5878\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11544,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5878\/revisions\/11544"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5878"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5878"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5878"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}