Preludes are the most miserable thing to work on

I have been working on cars for 45 years and this thing tops the list
for being the most miserable thing in the world to work on.
That includes those 60s mid sized cars with big block V*s shoehorned
in them. My 97 Prelude tops them all for being a bitch to work on.
I started out trying to replace the timing belt and gave up. When I
looked at my Mitchell repair manual in the remove and replace section
the first thing is how to remove the engine. I really think they are
trying to tell you something. I am not sure how you would ever get
that belt out with the engine in the car. You certainly are not
getting the water pump in there. You have about 2." between the face
of the block and the fender well ... that wheel well does not come out
like most cars with transverse mounted engines.
After breaking a 1/2" extension trying to loosen the crank shaft bolt
I decided to cut my losses and I put it back together. The belt looks
OK to me anyway (using the inspection criteria in the Honda manual).
Simply changing the alternator belt and PS belt was a big enough pain
in the ass.
When this thing breaks I will either use it as my signal from god to
convert the car to electric or just take the tags off and leave it on
the side of the road.

 

before you post stuff like this, since you've obviously been able to
find this group, you should check the google archives first and find the
faq's before posting stories of woe. the fact is, this job is real easy
if you know what you're doing. so, this is not a story about hondas
being miserable, it's about your ability to do your homework being
miserable.

 

Not true at all. I went to the Honda FAQ page referenced in this
newsgroup and read everything I saw there about that Fkn bolt. Two
1/2" impact wrwenmches running at 150 PSI didn't budge it, I hit it
with the air hammer and I put a pipe on the breaker bar with a
suitable holding tool, similar to the one described on the FAQ. All I
managed to do was break the extension. I suppose I could have put it
all back together, drove to the truck stop, had them break it loose
and started over.

Tell me what I missed about increasing the clearance between the
engine and the wheel well.

 

For whatever it is worth, when I had a Prelude, a lead mechanic at our local
Honda dealer told me that the Prelude was more difficult to work on vis
changing the belt. The cost to change was no different however than an I4
Accord --around $550.00 including accessory belts and water pump. You may
be better off having the work done by a dealer or someone who knows Hondas.

 

what wrench? what cfm? what hose? a 2 gallon tank and a 6cfm wrench
through 100 ft of 1/4" hose isn't going to loosen much.

i do this job, no air tools. i /do/ use a 3/4" drive, but it works
every time.

red herring - there's plenty of room to work, if you know what you're doing.

 

The clearance between the engine and wheel well is terrible.
I am a woman with small hands and struggle working in there.
I have thought of some of you gentlemen working in there and
sympathize.

I would not call this an easy job until one has done it at
least two times. The first time I went after that pulley
bolt on my much simpler 91 Civic, I prepared for weeks. At
that time, Tegger's page was not available but a guy at the
newsgroup gave me advice about building a holding tool. The
holding tool failed the first time, because it was designed
for a different pulley, and I actually chipped off an edge
of the pulley. I modified the tool and have been using it
every since.

I hit other hurdles. Now I reserve at least a few days when
I want to change the timing belt.

This is for your 1997 DOHC Prelude. (I see that has the hex
aperture.) Your DOHC engine may mean this is particularly
difficult. The bolt is originally torqued to 159 ft-lbs on
the 96 Prelude. Yours should be comparable. But when
loosening, it three times or more the torque may be
necessary. I would consider TWW's advice. In the
alternative, persevere as follows:

Consider reading the 96 Prelude instructions for TB
replacement via the manual linked at
http://www.honda.co.uk/car/owner/workshop.html . Go to the
96 Prelude manual, then the "Cylinder Head/Valve Train"
section, then the "Timing Belt" section. There is a specific
procedure for replacing the timing belt there. It's not
dead-on the 97 but it should be close.

If your air compressor is sizable (and it should be if it's
rated at 150 psi), then your bolt is on particularly tight.
For the archives, is this the first time it's ever been off?

You may have to go to 3/4-inch drive extensions and sockets.
Unless you know someone from whom you can borrow these, this
starts getting expensive.

If you still have patience, try the penetrating oil "PB
Blaster" on the bolt. With a directing straw, spray just a
little around the edge of the bolt head where it mates with
the pulley surface. You should see the oil "soaked" into the
threads by capillary action. Let sit an hour. Repeat.

Then go drive the car for ten minutes. This will heat up the
bolt. It should be easier to break free when hot as opposed
to when cold.

Otherwise, you may want to go to that truck stop.

 

My dealer doesn't feel that way and it is more like $800

 

It is a real 5HP compressor (230v 30a plug), 20' of 3/8" hose, my
chink C/H impact and my neighbors Bosch.
The holder was cobbled up from a pipe fitting like Chubby (?)
describes. It worked fine.

I really think this belt was replaced around 60-70k before I got the
car and they used an impact to put the bolt on. If that is the case I
don't need a belt ... maybe for as long as I own the car.

 

You seem to be the only one who thinks so.

 

Perhaps the price has changed in three years. You mentioned 60s big
blocks -- I had a Sunbeam Tiger in the mid 60s. That was a Carroll Shelby
effort with Rootes where they stuffed a 260/289 Ford v8 in what used to be
an I4 Alpine. Despite the mods, I often felt like they should have
furnished a monkey with it as tough as it was to get to things. You had to
go through the firewall for the left bank rear sparkplug for example. The
71 454 Vette I had later was also a little cramped. I drew the line at the
Prelude though.

 

Just a thought, but the first time I did this I dedicated a
few days just to figuring out how to best free, and then
torque properly, the pulley bolt. There is enough other
stuff to worry about when replacing the timing belt. Also,
freeing the bolt can be done separately easily. After being
broke free recently, it should not be quite so hard to free
again a short while (maybe up to a week of driving?) later.

Yes, this sounds like a serious air compressor. You got
unlucky with a very tight pulley bolt.

I trust you know this is an interference engine. When the
belt fails, there is a good chance its valves will be
destroyed and you would be looking at a new engine.

The inspection criteria in any manual are crapola. Very old
belts and not so old belts look too much alike.

 

As blastphemous as it might sound, I was serious about the electrical
conversion.

This thing blowing up might be a screamer with the right motor and
some good batteries ... for as far as I go. That is why I am cavillier
about the belt. If it is really 20,000k miles old it will last a
lifetime for me.with my 5000 miles a year and if it breaks I just have
a decision to make. This is a 12 year old Honda I got a deal on. It
don't owe me anything

 

I am familar with them (Maxwell Smart drove one in "Get Smart").
I never looked at one with the hood up. That is really a small block.
I did put a 390 in a 57 Ford and I had a friend with a V8 Nova. Both
were tough but nothing like the nose of the engine in this Prelude. I
did a belt job on my daughter's Accord and it was pretty easy. I have
also had a couple of other FWD cars with belt driven cams and they
were a snap. (Sunbird and LeBaron).

 

| I looked at my Mitchell repair manual
www.autozone.com/servlet/UiBroker?UseCase=RG001&UserAction=beginRepairGuide
In 9-07 I paid M$230 (@3.50) = ~US$65.71 for non OEM
labour to change my '90 accord 's F20A's water pump & 2
belts ( timing & balancer ).

| breaking a 1/2" extension trying to loosen the crank shaft bolt
My F20A's crank shaft *bolt was so tight, a very big socket &
bar ( 3x as big as any I ever saw, I never saw such big tools on
sale in shops ) were needed to loosen *. 2 other workshops
didn't have such big tools, told me they could not lossen this *.
All 3 say honda's * is very tight : certainly true, as I saw the
effort needed even with such big tools ( which I should've
filmed ).