There is always a first time for everything. Just think if you really want to get into fixing your car yourself, you just need to do you research and get the knowledge of what needs to be done. The first time I changed my timing belt and water pump there was alot of swearing and spanners flying around my garage plus I took my about three days to get it right. But in the long run it saved me $450 and now when I do it I have no worry's about it.

mberndt has a very valid point. Working on your car for the first time can be quite daunting. If you do decide to do it yourself get a haynes manual pay attention to what you are doing what you take of and where it goes. Also lay everything out in the order it comes off and put all you nuts and bolts in labelled bags.

Just trying to give you a bit of confidence in working on your car for the first time. You could always change the head gasket out and get your uncle to help you with the timing belt. That is about the hardest thing on the swap. By the way I am doing a LS/Vtec which i am starting tonight. I plan to take photo's and do a full right up of the entire process so look out for it should be quite helpful not full of hot air.

good luck let us know what your decide to do.

 

I, for one, don't even have the tools to begin the process of fixing my head gasket. The only thing about a car that I could do is audio. I've decided to take my car to a local shop and let them handle the head gasket. The guy is sort of repaying me a small favor and he will get it done for between $150-200. Then i'll have to wait about three weeks til my next check and I'll have my timing belt and pump changed. I truly appreaciate all of the advice from you guys. My uncle tells me that when i get through with this headache, I should get another 60,000 miles. Does anyone know how long it usually takes to get a head gasket fixed?

 

An experienced mechanic should have the head gasket changed in less time than it takes for a timing belt/water pump.

I have done it so many times that I can get the head off it about 45 minutes and back on in a little over an hour.

And the car should last much more than 60k miles assuming nothing else major fails before then.

 

Yeah, the belt and water pump SHOULD be ok, but to be safe, always change it at 60k.
Like I said B4, my goddamn belt broke 3 days before I was gonna fix it, I had all the parts and everything. Just my luck
The belts are RATED for 60k miles, technically they can go longer, but it really depends upon your driving habits, and MORE IMPORTANTLY, the weather conditions u regularly drive in (freezing vs desert, dry vs humid, etc)
If u wait for the inevitable, it will end up being more of a headache, don't know how many times I've proven this to myself... after many long nights and continuous swearing, lol.
Later

 

I took my car to a shop and they told me it will be $550 to be fixed. I was looking at my engine and it had some small engraving on it that read " T/B and W/P, 7-08-02, 91,196". Im assuming whoever owned my car before me changed the timing belt and Water pump then. I now have 137,023 miles on my car. Has anyone seen engraving like this before on a used car? If this is the case then i'll probably wait about a month and a half before i change them now.