then rotate the crank a couple turns counterclockwise so the teeth of the t-belt seat. Check to make sure everythings still at TDC and your ready to go!
That should be everything you need including how to put it back at top dead center like you needed to do. if you have any other questions let me know!

 

oh yeah, ur gonna wanna put some oil on the threads of that crank bolt that kicked your ass, but dont let any get on the washer, just on the threads! and tighten that bitch back down to 134 lb-ft

 

Thanks 343! That should help a lot. I'll have to continue this on Friday and maybe part of Saturday... depends on when I get the new water pump, could be another week until I get this finished Well, I've also been cleaning parts & areas as I go along... so that's making this take a lot longer than it probably should. It's a filthy mess under the hood. I hate putting my hand into an engine bay, and coming back out completely covered in grease... besides that a clean engine is easier to spot problems if / when they arise.

I already took off the belt tensioner... how bad is that? It seemed easy enough to remove it. (Or is the trick getting it back on?) I still have the spring and the rubbery sleeve that's wrapped around it. Checked the bearings and it seemed fine.

Anyone have recommendations on a decent, somewhat inexpensive (under $50) muffler? I had to remove the stock one, which was all rotted inside. It had broken off at the back end of the muffler sometime before I had bought this car last summer. So now I have a tailpipe with a bit of a Pac-Man look to it (happened as a result of removing the muffler, but hell if I can remember now how I did that). I'll probably end up cutting the pipe a bit farther back since it has that pinched end.

 

Hoses are cheap so buy them for sure, while your engine is apart heater hoses, vacume, fuel hoses replace them all at advance they are only $1.15 a foot. Also at advance they have buy one get one good quality brake cleaner, this and a metal brissol brush will make your engine get rid of all the nasty black scum.

Hold off on your O2 you new engine might have a dif. connector like mine did and the new o2 will be a waste.

Well try to get a good tranny, preferably an Si... Most come with LSD and it'll improve your take off and bottom end, waiting for the Vtec.

Spark Plugs are a must obviously, fluids... duh, radiator flush the works....

Change out as many gaskets as u can and head gasket can get costly from a shop but it's easy if u know how to take the timing belt off.

A new Clutch won't hurt get a F1 Racing From ebay a Stage 3 lightweight flywheel + Clutch will run about $230... Stage 2 is recommended if ur not the one to beat on it a lot and don't wanna deal with "clutch chatter" Remember to break it in and no downshifting or anything above 3k Rpm's for 400-750Miles. Depending the area your driving and how much clutch you use.

Muffler is pointless wont improve performance just sound and looks, now replacing the Cat, Headers, and piping for 2.5" will get your hp up a little and can be done for cheap if you know who to go to and where to buy.

Have any questions just pm me.

 

Its not bad, you just dont have to take it off so its one less thing to worry about if you just leave the tensioner on.

And like he said some brake clean does a good job with the light stuff and then you can just cover ur filter or take it off (if you dont have the stock airbox anymore) and wrap the distributor in a bag and get some simple green and spray the whole thing down with it, let it sit for a while, then hose it all down. That shit works magic. It'll make all the green pieces of tape around the wire harnesses be like brand new, thats how bad ass it is.

If you're lookin for like a do it yourself muffler, one you dont have to take to someone to weld than just look on ebay for an "axle back" exhaust, its just the section where the two bolts are right above the rear lower control arms back to the tip, so it would be an easy bolt on for you, but like he said it wont really add any performance, but it seems like your just tryin to keep up with it for now.

And of course you dont need to worry about a rad flush because when you pull out the water pump youll loose a good bit of coolant which you'll have to replace

 

Thanks for the replies...

I'll have to roll the car out of the garage and give that a try. I bought some Simple Green in a big bottle for cleaning stuff (as well as Engine Brite). I'll have to do a flush then as well... there's no coolant in it right now I didn't expect that gush of coolant when I finally pulled the water pump off.

I just want a cheap muffler for now so I don't get a ticket (though that might be unlikely, as I've been driving around without one since last summer)... and to try eliminating some of the "little airplane cockpit" effect that I experience when I drive around.

I've thought about this too, though the hoses on the car seemed good.

I was hoping to up my MPG, as that helped my LeBaron last summer when I replaced it...

Head gasket... another thing I've thought about, but that means having the car in the garage for another month or so at the rate I'm going!

The stock clutch seems fine, but something I'll be considering when I get around to the engine swap.

This I'll definitely be doing for an engine swap... for my D16 though, I just want to cut down on the noise level.

 

Though the Headgasket always sounds like a big issue, where you're at now, it wont be much more work at all to change it out. You're pretty much going to have to do part of what you did now to change it later. Let me know if you need a walkthrough for that too. And yes...sometimes you learn about that water pump the hard way like ya did...Haha

 

Just a quick update... I finally got this thing running last Saturday. Thanks everyone for the help! It's already running a lot better. That timing adjustment made all the difference. I also ended up flushing the coolant and replacing the thermostat (which I think was stock). I still need to tighten the AC belt a little bit, as it squeals when I start her up (and when I switch on the AC).

Next on my to-do list is replacing the O2 sensor and replacing the oil pan gasket. After that, who knows... probably drain & replace the MT fluid...

 

Always good to hear updates and the things listed above are all 10min jobs u will enjoy how easy it is and how much u save doin it yourself