After having my ‘5’ now for 2 weeks, it’s time to treat it to a cambelt change.
Its not hit 56,000 since it’s last one but it was done in 2010 and has been garaged by its previous owner for the last 3 years and it seems sensible to get it done.
I‘ll be completing the work myself and would like to know what other bits are worth replacing whilst I’ve got the engine in bits. I’ll be doing the cambelt and water pump but what else should I do at the same time. I assume there are various pulleys, bushings and gaskets. Alternator belt, power steering/AC belt etc.
It’s recently had an oil change including filter, fuel filter and spark plugs.
What do people consider to be the definitive engine bay service list?
Assuming there are no seal leaks, I would replace the cam belt and both pulleys along with the waterpump, gaskets and ‘O’ ring on bypass pipe(joins smaller guage pipe).
Taking this part of the engine apart can open a can of worms with cam cover bolts breaking, cover breakages, thermostat housing bolts breakages, gasket and ‘O’ ring.
Do not do this job in a rush and expect a few side issues. I would leave it until winter when delays will not cause you inconvenience.
It is a non interference engine, so should the worst happen your engine will not be destroyed(assuming standard).
Thanks for the advise. I’ll prepare to have to make trips to parts stores then by the sounds of it. I don’t mind if it puts the car off the road for a few weekends as it’s not a daily driver. Also, part of the fun for me of buying my ‘5’ was working on it so for me if I’m doing a service job for the day then I’m having fun all the same.
That does seem like a great price. Can you comment on the quality of the parts? Mx5parts want more than that!
I did one Mk2 with that kit and it did not come with a new cambelt tension spring. The old one had stretched over the years and was out of specification.
I had to buy a new spring, therefore once the postage was included for the spring it was no longer the cheapest kit on the block.
I’ve stopped ordering from them on one specific principal concerning their attitude to an exterior part from a supplier which gets panned on Customer Reviews as a bit of nonsense when the OEM part is a couple of quid more and bang on with quality and fit.
Pity, over the years they have been excellent otherwise for me.
Can I ask what part that is? Still new to this mx5 stuff. I did buy an OEM battery from them and it seems good. I only went to them though as I live within driving distance and stopped on my way home from work.
As I said, I haven’t got around to fitting the parts yet but from what I’ve seen of them, they certainly look to be good quality.
DMG are a well known company and I have never heard anything that would put me off buying more parts from them. If you ever watch “Car SOS” you might have seen that they obtain a lot of parts from them.
I have had the DMG kit fitted for over 3 years with no problems, German flennor belt/ tensioners & Japanese origin pump with metal impeller. As Drumtochty says tension spring needs buying separately
The spring is only in operation while the belt is being fitted and tensioned. Once everything is tightened up, it serves no purpose, it is possible to fit the belt without a spring.
For those without the information you have, can you please advise the tension you fit the cam belt to and how you measure the cambelt tension when fitting it.
Easy with the correct unstretched spring but expensive to buy a calibrated belt tension device the last time I looked but you my have found an inexpensive accurate device.
I (personally) would always recommend Gates for any cam belt and have fitted them in many cars over many years without issue [they invented the serpentine belt]
I just set the belt tension by feel. Not for the purist, I know, but I have done so over thirty years or so, on a number of my own cars of various sorts. I’ve never had a problem doing so and I’ve never had a toothed belt break or slip.
Btw, the advice I found was to set a belt deflection of 1/64" per inch of span of the run of the belt. I think this applies to most toothed belts. Another method is the set the tension so the belt so that it is just possible to rotate the longest run of the belt by 90 degrees with firm finger pressure.
Timing belt change on an MX5 is a lovely job. Plenty of access and you don’t need special tools to hold the cams in position . Only issue can be access to the pulley bolt with a decent socket. Dropping the anti roll bar makes life a lot easier and its only held on by 4 bolts. They can rust tight so a liberal spray with penetrating oil the night before helps to ease them and a good 6-sided socket will reduce the risk of rounding them off.
Thanks. Your kind words are making me feel better about trying my first big job. Maybe your help with my current issue? I got the car up on jack stands for the first time on Sunday and got the front wheels off. I’m thinking of replacing all bushings and other rubber bits, cleaning up the metal parts and giving them a treatment of por15 or similar. I discovered the brake dust covers were totally rotten. Managed to get the Caliper off, disc off, hub off (eventually) and then I managed to snap one of the bolts holding the dust cover on and round out another one. Is there somewhere I can find the size/length etc of these bolts so I can buy replacements?