I got a little excited and forgot to remove the brake caliper. So before removing the hub I took the caliper off. Both top and bottom bolts get removed. But before you remove them be sure not to lose the spacer between the caliper and the hub. With that in mind I slid the caliper off the rotor. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
The rotor retaining bolts (aka: wheel mounting bolts) get unscrewed, allowing me to take the rotor off the axle flange. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
I supported the hub from the bottom with my floorjack, and then removed the bottom bolt, and off cam the hub. Check out the horse stamped on the back of the bolt head. That's O.G. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
With the hub out of the way I removed the retaining nut on the top of the shock tower, and took the shock off. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Next up removing the top and bottom a-arms. For the top a-arm I removed the nuts, and bolts holding it in place. For the bottom a-arm I decided to remove the big nut on the inside, holding the a-arm fork to the subframe, and slide it out of the mounting holes. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
The motor mounts are held in place via 2 bolts. Place a box wrench on the top bolt, and a socket/ratchet on the nut on the bottom, and remove them. The motor mount lifts right off. It was also nasty dirty from 9.5 years of road grime. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
After cleaning up the motor mounts I inspected them. The mounting plate/heat shield lifts right off. With the plate off I had a good look at the rubber. Only a little bit of flaking, just barely separated from the rubber, but overall my motor mounts were still in great shape after 24 years of service. No major dry rot or cracking. So I will be reusing them. The bottom in just the "can" that holds the rubber, and it too is still in good shape. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
With the frame all stripped down I took it to a local weld shop and had them take care of the two cracking welds. They also welded gussets to key areas on the subframe. This helps stiffen it up and reinforces the welds to help prevent them from stress cracking again. If you look at the corners you can see gussets welded to the subframe. After I got it back from the shop it got washed down. I used a rattle can of Rust-Oleum high heat black paint for BBQ grills. The headers, cats, and exhaust put out quit a bit of heat, so I needed paint that would hold up to the heat. I could have spent the money to get it media blasted, then powder coated, but I decide I'll save that for another time. Besides I think it came out ok for a Stooge paint job. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
With the paint drying I moved on to the to changing out the bearing for the alternator belt tensioner. Image Unavailable, Please Login
First the tensioner bold housing gets removed from the bearing. Then the retaining bolt insert from the other side. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
The insert has slots in it to accommodate the tabs on the housing when pressing them back together. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Using a pair of sturdy snap ring pliers I removed the snap ring and set it aside. Would you look at all the rust built up over the years. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
I put the bearing face down on a piece of 2x4, put a 42mm socket inside the hole, and gave it a good smack with the sledge to get the bearing started out. The bearing didn't come all the way out because it was bottoming out on the 2x4. Image Unavailable, Please Login
I needed something round, with a hole big enough that the bearing could fall through the rest of the way. Me being the Stooge that I am I used the rear brake rotor. I centered the bearing over the hole in the middle of the rotor, then tapped it all the way out. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
I took my old bearing to a local bearing supply shop and had them match it up. It matched up with a Timken 9107PP bearing. But when I pulled it out of the box it was actually a Fafnir 9107PP bearing made in Japan. My guess is one company owns the other. Whatever the case the bearing matched up just fine, and is a good quality bearing. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
After I cleaned up the belt race, I turned it over and centered the new bearing in it. I found that a 46mm socket is the right size to fit on the outer rim of the bearing race, and inside the hole of the belt race. I then tapped the new bearing in place until is was all the way in, making sure that the lip for the snap ring was clear. I sooooooooo need to buy a press. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
On to replacing the cam belt covers. Here we have different length bolts that are used on the front cover. The reason is because of the offset of the cylinders in the block. One row of cylinders naturally sits back a bit further than the other. If you look at this top shot of the engine you can see that the right side of the block sits a little bit further back than the left side. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Here are a couple more pictures to illustrate the difference in offset. The first picture you can see how the back cam belt cover has longer bolt holes. And the second pictures how they are shorter. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
So, having said that, the three longest allen bolts are used on the 5/8 bank of cylinders/side of the engine. Or facing the front of the engine, on the right. Image Unavailable, Please Login
The next three longest bolts are used on the 1/4 bank side of the engine, or the left side facing the front. Sorry for the blurry pic. Image Unavailable, Please Login
And last are the two shorties that get used in the middle of the cover, right under the water pump. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Before I tighten the cam belt cover bolts down, I needed to fit the cam belt followers. The belt followers are to help prevent the belt from jumping a tooth due to belt belts slap. they do not need to touch the belt, only ride high enough over the belt so that if they belt starts to slap it doesn't jump off the pulley. I cut a strip off of a drink coaster and used that as a spacer for the belt followers. It was about 1mm of space between the belt and the shoe of the follower. Be sure to have both shoes facing the water pump when you install them. With the followers in place, gapped, and facing the right direction, NOW I tightened down the allen bolts, fastening to cover to the engine, and holding the belt followers in place. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Time for the cam covers to go back on. The last time I did this I just put the gasket for the spark plug holes on dry. They come with a sealer already applied to the spark plug holes. However, they ended up leaking. So this time it's getting Hondaband applied. i only applied it to the area for the spark plug holes. The rest of the gasket just sit suspended in the air. You don't have to do this, but this is how I did it. Also. I applied Hondabond to the ends of the gasket, that sit between the cam seal housings. This area of the gasket does NOT come with anything to help prevent oil leaks. So if you put your gaskets on dry be sure to put a dab of sealer where the o-ring and gasket meet. Me, i "baptized" it with Hondabond. I don't want this thing leaking AT ALL! Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Then I did the same thing for the outer gaskets. After I installed the cover, I took a paper towel and wiped off the excess Hondabond. Image Unavailable, Please Login
