timing chain replacement

[83accord]

hi .. I have a 1983 accord ,4cly carby. im led to believe this is a (el accord).. can anyone tell me if I can relace the timing belt without removing the engine

[Super-DA9]

I don't see any reason why you would remove the engine to replace a timing belt in any Honda.

Usually it's a matter of positioning the engine at TDC, removing the crank pulley, then the timing cover, loosening the tensioner pulley and pulling off the old belt, then install the new one and tighten it up.

[ECU-MAN]

they are not hard to do,

as above, support the sump with a jack and block of wood, from memory on the 83 Accord you may have to remove the AC compressor (with out letting the gas out) to get to the belt.

[83accord]

thankyou very much guys....; ecu-man I believe you helped me last time with my fuel pump :) thankx
Now yes the a/c was in the way but it was empty so I removed it.im upto the crank pulley removal,. I have located the hole in the inner fender for access.. now my problem is the crank turning when I try to undo it,, this concerns me as the cam isn't moving,

Is there a trick to this or maybe ill have to try and get an impact driver...

[ECU-MAN]

If the cam is not moving when you turn the crank then the timing belt has snapped

[83accord]

no its not snapped but it has 10% of its teeth sheared off so it must have slipped. when I had the top belt cover off I could see it wasn't turning the cam while I hand cranked it.. and now with it all apart except the crank pully I can see its definitely stuffed.. it all looks fairly straight forward(except this pulley bolt) so ill just chuck a new belt on and hope.. I tried to check for valve damage but the belt wont turn the cam that's why im gonna fit a belt and hope... mind you I was doin below 5km for 100metres and cranked it with the key up to 10 times(looking for spark and rotor spin) so im hopeing the valves are ok...... what actually happened was ;after dropping back to low gear to get up my steep street I pulled in my driveway ,downhill, then reached for the key to turn off the car and realised it was already stalled... so that was lucky..

The question is : can i stop the crank spinning to undo the bolt?????.
im not keen to jam the flywheel. i have heard of putting a breaker bar and socket on it then cranking the engine but i think Honda spins anticlockwise,(ill check this today). sounds dodgy anyway. I also see the later model has a crank holding tool but not my model.
thankyou so much in advance

[ECU-MAN]

is the car auto or manual

[83accord]

its an auto...I wish it was manual then I wouldn't have the prob.. ill probably get a mechanic to come to my house with a high power impact drill.. or hire one.... first ill try wrapping a leather belt around the pulley but I don't see that working

[Jasemas]

Need a crankeshaft pulley holder?

[83accord]

thanks jasemas.... from the reseach ive done it looks like they changed the pulley in 1991.. to accommodate a pully holding tool... ill look deeper and see what I can find...... Or are you thinking of some universal tool that holds any pulley? the pulley has 4 holes in it where it looks like a tool would fit ... thankyou all so much for your help

[ECU-MAN]

the holes in the pulley are for the special tool, as you mentioned they changed with the introduction of the ED Civic.

[83accord]

thankyou ecu-man. .now I gotta track down the tool or a mechanic who has it..... it looks like the key for a large grinder would come close to fitting..

[83accord]

found one on ebay . fits all pulleys ..it has one solid pin on the bar and a second one on a pivot.... yippee

[83accord]

well I sent it to my mechanic instead of stuffing around .. he installed the belt and says its got bent valves in 1st and 2nd cylinder. wont run no compression.. but he said not to bother spending another cent on it cause every belt hose and clamp is 1983 original . he thinks if I spend 1200 doin the head. ill have a car worth $500 that's about to blow welsh plugs etc... and he may be correct because only a month ago a fuel hose split and was sucking air.(although I did fix that on the side of the road )..
My thinking is buy a head gasket set and a set of valves and valve grind paste and do it at home for a few hundred.. my mechanic says get out now its a money pit.. at least he is honest...
he only charged me 150 to replace the belt and do compression test I was happy with that..
ill look for a wrecking furom

[83accord]

it seems like I can source valves a head gasket and manifold gaskets for very little ($100- $150).so im gonna give it a go.. done plenty of fords and it looks similar. ill do all the valves and just use valve grind paste and hope they seat ok... luckily the mechanic left the harmonic balancer and belt covers off... my thinking is mark the belt and the pulley then loosen the adjuster just enough to slip the belt off...I probably should do valve stem seals and a cam seal but then it could go on forever... $150 im willing to risk it .. would just like to at least use up the rego

[dougie_504]

Bloody hell what a pain in the ass, you may as well start a build thread haha.

For interest's sake, have you got a link to your universal pulley tool?

[83accord]

I didn't end up with a tool. They are on ebay. I got the mechanic to hit it with his air ratchet, apparently its so sudden the pulley dosn't get a chance to move. I also thought the tool I was recommended looked a little week.