Hiding behind the Vx Cambelt cover ..

[DaveMorris]

Whilst the engine was out of the car I thought that I'd remove the cambelt cover to check on the type of belt it had fitted.

 

Glad I did because I found a loose large flat "washer" 😳

O/D ~69mm i/d ~45mm

I found it sitting at teh bottom and restingn on the crank pully (and it has a slight flat on it where it has rubbed.

 

Looking at the various pulleys etc for the cambelt I think that this is the front face of the water pump pulley.

 

Piccies are here

 

PLenty of dust/fluff behind the cover so I think belt replacement is a good idea ?

Does the water pump need replacing and/or the front plate re-fixing to the pulley (or can I leave this off and not worry about it ?

 

Any comments appreciated,

Dave.

[Roger King]

I can't open the pics at the moment because of tech problems on my PC, but assuming that the flange is from the water pump you've been a very lucky boy.

 

Offere the flange up to the pump pulley and it should fit back on if that's what it is.

 

You really should replace the pump if that's the problem, but you might be able to re-attach the flange (I don't advise running without it because is acts as a belt guide). Assuming you have a metal pulley as opposed to plastic, it's a good idea to fit the flange and then centre punch the front face of the pulley several times in order to deform it and prevent the flange falling off again. I'd also advise using a thin smear of araldite (proper araldite, not quick set stuff) on the join.

 

Of course, it might be a good idear to change the water pump for other reasons. If it's done significant mileage it's always a good precaution when you're rummaging around in there!

 

Belt should definitely be changed.

[DaveMorris]

Pretty sure that the "flange" is from the water pump - it has 6 small indentations which look as if they're spot welds, and they tie up to 6 marks on the water pump pulley. Only 3 of the spot welds look as if thay've ever done anything though.

 

HAving recently decided against changing the cams and putting the verniers on - I suppose I may as well now if I've got the change the cambelt anyway

 

 

[Paul Deslandes]

Yes, you are very lucky. As one who's had a stone inside the cover I know how much damage can be done when the belt slips! Opinions vary as to whether you should discard the belt cover and back plate. After my incident, which was an expensive excuse to upgrade the pistons, valve guides and all the valves, I removed the cover completely on the basis that anything getting into the belt area would be flung out, rather than trapped and inevitably causing damage.

 

 

[ECR]

Glad you got away with it Dave

As you say Paul, opinions vary on discarding the covers. I discarded mine after finding that the post for the belt tensioner spring had detatched itself and was bouncing around on the crank pulley.

 

Edited by - ECR on 24 Jan 2009 21:46:59

[stevefoster]

That looks like a spring plate washer of some sort - no idea from where...

 

I would discard the cover and fit a half undertray. Keeps the alt and DS belt (if you have one safer) and the front engine compartment clean plus you can easily do a visual check.

 

You are not alone in finding things that should not be there.

I found a slightly knurled M12 nut sitting in the sump foam baffle first foam change I did

Never found from where or why and have done 15,000 miles / 8 yrs since

 

Add lightness, says the man with a VX :-)

My racing & other pics

here

General pics (mostly of 7's and cars).

here

 

 

Edited by - stevefoster on 25 Jan 2009 12:24:07

[Bob Simon]

Dave,

 

Something else I noticed in your photos that you might want to look into.

 

Now might be a good time to replace those idler pulleys as well. It looks as though you may have the GF50 idler in your belt train. These have been known to disintegrate causing much grief. Look here for a complete explanation and solution using parts from GM. Here'show to fix the problem using some nice turned SBD parts.

 

-Bob

94 HPC VX Evo III

 

 

Edited by - Bob Simon on 25 Jan 2009 15:23:55

[Englishmaninwales]

Dave

You 're a lucky man

Nice to see some oil on your pristine garage floor

[Peter T]

That is a later style low noise cambelt set up.

Plastic belt tensioners have a habit of exploding........... but only at higher reves and valvetrain conditions.

Best to check and if not sure replace all bearing carriers.

 

 

[DaveMorris]

Malcolm - Garage floor covered in oil + coolant etc and lots of the nice paint has been slowlyripped off by warm Caterham tyres sticking to it when I get back from a run (can't park the x-flow on the drive due to all the oil dripping from it

 

Peter - Plastic belt tensioners look all fine - it's definitely the water pump front guide face that has just dropped off. A surprising amount of belt fluff liberally spread aroundin the enclosed space though 😳

 

Bob - thanks for that. I'll break the good news to SWMBO

[Nick Chan]

Dave,

 

Missed this posting earlier on but 😳 Good job you decided to do this bit of routine maintenance...!