Rep Power: 99

I found it difficult to source JUST the camshaft unless it was new...and a new one was at least $250 (Ebay). You will probably have to purchase the entire cylinder head and take the camshaft from it. That's what I did. I used car-part.com
And yes, remove the rocker assembly and the camshaft should come right out. Be sure to loosen the bolts incrementally and in sequence. Just follow the service manual. You may need to pry the ends a bit since there is RTV sealant.

Yes, that is the procedure for the valve lash adjustment. You just need a decent set feeler gauges. Take your time, follow the service manual.

Don't do anything else is my advice. Remove the camshaft, install the new one, re-install the rocker assembly (applying RTV to the end caps), install cam gear, adjust the valve clearances/lash, install timing belt and valve cover. I think that's about it.

 
Rep Power: 0

I found one on ebay for $80 shipped so that's coming next week.





Is it perhaps better to put timing belt on before moving camshaft for valve lash check?


Btw after more youtube searching I found civic cylinder head rebuild vids and now feel much better about swapping the camshaft as it doesn't look difficult. In retrospect I could have gotten that broken cam pulley bolt out by buying a screw extractor set with 'left hand drill bits' instead of wantonly drilling in there and destroying the camshaft.

https://www.harborfreight.com/screw-...-pc-61981.html

 
Rep Power: 366

yes!
these engines are interference, so valve hits pistons if belt is not there to sync them

 
Rep Power: 0

Today I replaced the camshaft with a used one, reset timing belt, checked valve clearance and everything appeared good. Put valve cover on and started engine in driveway and there's a faint clanging/rattle at higher rpms when revving as if something is loose. I checked and all bolts are tight, rocker assembly bolts were checked several times.

Engine doesn't SEEM too bad otherwise and idle seems decent. Is it possible mechanical timing is 180 out but car doesn't sound that bad in driveway -or- would it be 100% obvious if it was? Because with timing belt off all week i lost track of crankshaft gear in relation to camshaft and when I did line them up today it is very possible crankshaft needed to come around another full turn so engine firing order is right?? Because I should've checked cylinder # 1 with a straw or screwdriver to make sure it was TDC before lining crank gear and camshaft marks up.

If crankshaft being 180 out isn't a possibility the other thing i'm thinking is maybe timing is off 1 tooth? I did check the scantool and no codes found while idling engine.

 
Rep Power: 222

1 tooth off won't throw a code, better triple check the timing

 
Rep Power: 0

Fortunately the noise wound up to be the throttle cable bracket rattling around loose. Engine sounds great so I'm going to remove crank pulley, check timing marks one last time, then put everything back together.

I put a new blue felpro VC gasket on last week which fit fine and last night noticed it had stretched after being installed in the car for a week. Had to cut about 1/2" off 2 sides and now going to apply black rtv at those spots where they join.

 
Rep Power: 222

Got pics? How tight did you make the valve cover?

 
Rep Power: 0

I might've made it tighter than 7 lbs since I did it by hand but it couldn't be much over that. I have to remove valve cover again because I didn't put upper timing cover on yet so from now on I'm going to use my beam type torque wrench for these low value torque numbers. The problem I was having before was with my 3/8" Harbor freight/Pittsburgh torque wrench and the 'click' being too subtle to notice sometimes.

 
Rep Power: 222

For it to be sticking out 1/2" seems ridiculous, maybe it slipped out of the groove?

 
Rep Power: 0

No, it stretched because I put it in the groove and it wound up close to 1" too long. It was ok when I put it on the first time though so maybe I overtightened the valve cover.

 
Rep Power: 223

The gasket stretching over time is pretty normal but I'm not sure 1" extra after a week seems excessive. Probably just a poor quality gasket, I'd recommend OEM.

 
Rep Power: 0

Finally finished timing belt job today and only took a couple weeks lol! After setbacks like breaking nubs off crankshaft gear installing it backwards, destroying camshaft after breaking cam gear bolt off, and buying a new crank position sensor unnecessarily. But I'm still ahead of the game had I paid someone $400 labor to do the job and I learned a lot.

I also know for certain timing marks are 100% good, new water pump definitely doesn't leak, and new cam + crankshaft seals are good too. I dremelled the upper timing cover so it goes on/comes off without removing VC which left just a slight gap between it and VC. I have read you can pull upper cover off without removing VC and I'd recommend doing that and then modifying it to get i back on especially if you have a VC that doesn't leak. It would make the timing belt job quite a bit easier and checking timing marks later too if needed.

The whole reason I even did the timing belt job is because I thought my tensioner was squeaking and it wasn't. Then i thought for certain it must be the A/C pulley so put a new one on but still have the same squeak. The squeaking/chirping gets faster/slower with rpms but doesn't change at all when turning steering wheel. It has to be the power steering pump and probably the bearing or pulley so will remove belt soon to find out for sure.

 
Rep Power: 223

If not you can also pull the belt for the alternator/compressor to see if it stops. Don't run for long this way since the alternator won't be charging the battery.

 
Rep Power: 99

Probably the power steering pump. Mine has been quietly whining since I bought the car over 40K miles ago. I flushed out the fluid, but no change. I know that the o-rings at the connections will harden and allow air in causing some noise. You may want to try that first since it's cheap.

 
Rep Power: 0

Mine is a chirping sound so it's got to be the PS pulley or bearing because I already ruled out alternator, A/C compressor, timing tensioner. Outside chance it's the new PS belt so guess I'll spray that first to see if anything changes.

Since timing belt job is fresh in my mind I wrote down step by step procedure of everything I did so next time it would be quite easy

 
Rep Power: 222

If you put non OEM belts on you usually need to retighten them after a couple days/weeks

 
Rep Power: 0

Anyhow, after driving car hundreds of miles since timing belt job engine is smoother than ever! I do use synthetic oil with top line oil filters such as Wix synthetic media.

 
Rep Power: 0

I just installed a Bando OEM alternator belt and that solved the problem. I explained the problem more fully in thread 'WEIRD BELT CHIRPING'

https://www.civicforums.com/forums/3...-chirping.html