My question would be,
Why are you concerned about a nick in the timing belt, yet you question leaving the cover off?
I'd say replace ANY damaged belts, simply due to the extent of problems if you DO have failure.

 

The nick will grow, as to how fast, I couldn't tell you. I would leave it on and check it often.

As for leaving the cover off, I wouldn't. I would just modify it to make it easier to remove. Alot of people have it left off, but I do know of one instance where the belt actually did get chipped from debris under the hood.

If the t-belt does break however, as long as you don't have bigger cams and any head modifications, it shouldn't do any damage seeing as how the zetec is non-interference.

 

Thank you noresull. I'm hoping to order some cam gears soon. I'll put on a new belt then. I'll definately keep an eye on the one in there now. Any tips on changing the belt? Do I have to remove the cover that the motor mount bolts to? It looks like there's a separater there, so that you can't pull the belt up and through. Or can I just twist the belt sideways and ease it down behind it? Thank You for any info.

 

The middle timing belt cover does have to come off. It isn't really that hard. Any other tips I can think of? I would get the TDC peg for the crank, it will ensure you have the crankshaft at TDC when doing the new belt.

 

Thank You

 

Sorry to bug you again with this. I don't have the money for the cam gears yet. Do I need the AEM kit(mainly the bar)to hold the cams in place when just changing the belt? Will the cams move when I take off the belt(I'll remove the spark plugs, well before, to release any pressure)? If I need the AEM kit I'll definately get it. Thank You again for your input, Mike.

 

I personally would not even attempt to replace the timing belt or gears without the tool. The pressure will not be completely released because some of the valves will be in the open position which will apply pressure to the cams even with the spark plugs out.

 

I had thought about the spring pressure also(should have put that in the reply). I'll order the AEM tool kit. Thank You once again.

 

I don't know about the AEM tool kit. New Edge Performance sells a kit for $20 that works great. It seems to be a no-name kit, but it worked for spankenstein's car.

Is that the AEM Kit? It's got the cam alignment bar and the crank peg.

 

I can personally testify from recent experience that with everthing stock, having the timing belt fail won't hurt anything in the engine. However, I also lerned that 60,000 miles is a good time to replace the belt.

 

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by ax0n:
I don't know about the AEM tool kit. New Edge Performance sells a kit for $20 that works great. It seems to be a no-name kit, but it worked for spankenstein's car.

Is that the AEM Kit? It's got the cam alignment bar and the crank peg.<hr></blockquote>

The kit New Edge Performance sells is the AEM kit. I ordered one from them earlier today.