Everything looks good except the timing belt. The camshaft spins, no stuck tensioners, water pump looks good. The belt looks great except for a clean break, I am guessing and hoping it was defective.
I will put the new one on tomorrow, set the timing and see what happens.
This seems to be very rare, so I am hoping that I can trust the next timing belt to get me to my destination on a long trip. There are some areas that I have driven where this would have been much more inconvenient.
Pat
It is a good thing that you are that handy. I'm all thumbs pretty much, when it comes to cars. Although I did save myself some big money these last couple of weeks. Replaced the "Pulse" printed ckt board, in my Chevy S10s windshield wiper motor unit, part through JC Whitney only >LOL.
I don't know about handy. I am going to rebuild a 1.6 liter engine soon, we'll see. If it starts and runs well, then maybe I'll accept handy.
The belt went right on and everything is well now. It really is not that hard a job. I found that replacing the door handle on my parent's Camry was much more frustrating, and the hardest thing I have done by far with a miata is replacing the top.
The miata is one of the easier cars to work on for most things. It sounds like you have more capability than you give yourself credit for.
I have found the hardest part of working on cars to be lack of proper tools, getting lazy and not laying the parts out, (and sometimes labeling them), as they are dissembled. Early on, there were some, er, torque issues, but that is not a problem anymore.
I was driving through was I believe was the set of the movie "deliverance" one time. I was really glad that the car kept moving.
I understand the advantages of the belt, but I also have clear memories of the chain on my old Z-Car losing it's tension but still slapping along well enough to get me home. :-)
Pat
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