Honestly after doing it one time now already, I know I can take it apart much faster than the first time. I’m going to put about 100 miles on it and then I’m going to just take it completely apart again since it don’t take that long. And check the balance belt also, I figure it cannot hurt.

I like Aisin kits,I have used them on my other cars. This one was just a little more challenging because that’s really not the same as the other cars I’ve done. As in the self adjusting. If that made any sense.

I did this on a Toyota Camry for my son, but I don’t know if I can do this with a Honda? I wanted to start it up while it was completely apart and see how the belts are and how they sound is that possible?

 

You can start & run it without the upper timing cover, but just close the valve cover. If you don't install the alternator belt, you'll have to watch for draining the battery - otherwise you don't need the external belts installed.

(That's for F-series engines, but not for 2003+ K-series engines where the external belt drives the waterpump)

 

I'm curious about Jim Blakes comment that he can twist his timing belt about 90 degrees and that's good. I just replaced mine on my 91 Accord and I'm not sure I can do that. If the timing belt was to tight it would shred itself quickly. If it was too loose it could jump teeth if you jammed the accelerator down and torqued the engine. All in all I'd have to say good job to Slade.

 

Point was that you should NOT be able to twist beyond 90 degrees on the longest span of the belt. That doesn't result in belt being loose enough to skip teeth. From my perspective, the "correct" tension (from VW's method or from Honda's method) was less than what I would normally put on an alternator belt, so don't be tempted to overtighten it.

The torque that the engine produces doesn't go into the timing belt. That belt only ever carries the load of the cam followers against the camshaft.

 

Maybe I said that wrong. But if I stomp on the accelerator it makes the engine run faster. And that translates into the timing belt spinning faster, does it not? Oh, and i'm one of those people that put Dexron in my tranny wth no problems. You must be old like me.

 

Yeah I'm old but I put MTF in my transmissions...

Load on the timing belt is still the load of the camshaft spinning. Say 4k RPM in neutral is the same load as 4k RPM climbing a steep hill with the throttle much further open.

Quick revving in neutral - say 1k to 5k RPM in 1 second adds more load from the momentum of the camshaft, but that's not much because the camshaft doesn't really make a good flywheel.

 

Maybe only us old folks use MTF in our transmissions.

 

And here I was thinking no-one had a sense of humour here. Bravo guys and of course I don't really use that crap dexron.
here's where I was going with my comment. If you have a manual transmission you know that when shifting gears the speed of the camshaft will change. This was the basis of what I was trying to say. If I'm going such and such speed, downshift and punch it my timing belt better be fit correctly or else it's going to jump a tooth or two. Correct?

 

You mentioned an Asian Kit that you purchased, and that it came with great instructions. Can you please send me a link to purchase the same parts?

 

I got my Aisin kits thru Rock Auto. They're about 92 to 100 bucks, but they come with everything you need. Since we don't know the year of the car, we can't give you a direct link.