So, while the idle problem has gone away, another has come up. the car has 123,000 miles on it, and the original owner "does not recall" changing the timing belt. So, just to be safe, I am going to change it while I have to comfort of my dads shop in which to work.

It looks like a fairly straight forward ordeal, and getting to the belt itself seems like most of the work, then making sure that its in time.

my question is this...with the "second timing belt", that runs to thebalance shaft assembly, need I worry about this? I know that people remove the assembly and it adds a little power, but is there a downside, other than the extra vibration? as ghetto as it seems, do i need to remove the balance assembly itself, or can i just remove the belt? if i dont mess with the timing belt "b" as the book calls it, is there any risk? I mean, the problem with the main timing belt breaking is engine interference, but if belt "b" should fail, i dont see what damage could be done, other than collateral damage caused by the broken belt flopping around.

i dont have any grand plans at the moment, other than minor things like a MBC, but even that is down the road a bit. i just dont want the car to implode, so i am going to take care of this before it becomes a problem...

thanks for the insight.

 

You need to get the kit to remove the balance shaft... its a few parts... EBay sells them, as I recall..
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Talon...spagenameZWDVW

 

ultimately, id rather not do anything to the car (right now) that i dont have to...i believe to remove the entire assembly, id have to remove the oil pan and such.

 

Likely, but I dont think just taking the belt off is such a good idea... concept being... thats theres GOTTA be a reason they can sell those kits.

 

my biggest concern is my pistons slamming into my valves...

once that is taken care of, the rest is less of a concern.

 

Yes, that is without a doubt a valid concern, lol

 

it has been suggested to me that i can simply cut the balance shaft belt, and let it be like that, even though the shafts are still in there. i know that this isnt the "proper way" to do this, but so long as it doesnt hurt anything, i would rather not deal with the balance shaft belt. i dont want to get into removing the balance shafts (right now), and installing the kit, etc...if the belt is cut and removed, other than engine vibration, what, if anything, is it going to hurt? one of my friends read on other forums that people have simply cut the belt and let it be, and i cannot find any instance of that damaging anything...

?

 

I dont know what the outcome would be w/o the elimination kit... but youre probably right... the worst case scenario sounds like it would just be annoying vibrations. I see it this way, if you want to cut the belt, then cut the belt... if it works out, good ****. If not, then its $12 kit time, lol...

 

well..if it doesnt work, that means that it will destroy something important.

also, i found a DIY online of removing the balance shafts, and it looks to be a fair amount of work...its more work than I have time to deal with right now. considering thatwe only put about 5,000 miles on ALL of our vehicles combined each year, its not going to gain mileage...i suppose that my options are to cut the belt and leave the stuff in there (until someone tells me NOT TO), and if that wont work, ill just replace the balance shaft belts.

 

Your not gonna have any problems in leaving the balance shaft in there besides maybe alittle vibration. But its not gonna harm anything. Its not really reccomended just cuz its just gonna be sitting there. And the "correct" way is to remove it. But if you dont want to take the time then leaving it isnt a problem