Hi all.

I just wanted to know, from people who do their own work, if it's EXTREMELY, PAINSTAKINGLY difficult to replace the timing belt, water pump, and all associated parts (i.e. gaskets, blah blah) for someone, such as myself, who has not done any extensive repairs/maintenance outside of changing oil and oil/air filter and spark plugs. I'm expecting to receive the Helms manual today and will be using that as my guide and will purchase all the necessary hand tools as outlined in the manual. How many hours does it typically take to complete these repairs and are the instructions given in the Helms manual descriptive and complete enough for a newbie to follow? Is it necessary that 2 people work on it? Or can I do it alone? Any advice and/or suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

If you have all the tools and everything goes smoothly, one person can change out all that stuff in about 2 hours, add more time allowance for things to go wrong, the bolt to be stuck and other possible unforseen problems. The job itself isn't all the difficult, the hard part is getting the engine and bolts to cooperate with your efforts

 

How does the engine and bolts not cooperate w/ one's efforts assuming you have the proper tools? Would mind listing typical obstacles? I may not understand what they are right now, but after I read the manual over and over, I'm sure it'll make sense to me......eventually. Again, forgive my ignorance, cause I'm new to all of this.

 

The crank pulley bolt is a common point of annoyance. The reason is because it's torqued to about 150 lb/ft, but requires a LOT more than that to loosen. The best way to loosen it is normally to put the car in 5th gear with the wheels on the ground, chocked and the emergency brake on, and get the right socket with a long breaker bar or rachet with a cheater bar and put as much weight on it as you can.

 

im not sure if new Integras are the same.. but i useually hit the crank pulley bolt with an impact (on my accord its almost a straight shot if you remove the splash guard)...if you have one available and use a pulley yanker from sears (about 20.00).