Timing belts and band saws...

["Neal Tovsen" <ntovsen@piper.hamline.edu>]

My pass. side motor mount is in the 88 and running. Just in time...the
brakes on my 87 decided to disappear on me while approaching a stop sign. I
haven't had time to look at it yet, so there may be some questions coming
soon!

Since I needed to be in Madison, WI this weekend, the weather was nice, and
the salt was almost completely off the roads, I made a call to the insurance
company to see if I could drive the 88 instead of my GF's 91 Hyundai. It's
an OK car for basic transportation, but it recently developed a loud
exhaust, and a 4hr. trip just didn't sound like fun...

We finally get to the issue: It appears (note that's not a 100% sureness!)
that my timing belt is rubbing on that thin piece of sheetmetal behind it on
the long side between the intermediate shaft and the cam pulley (16v, BTW).
When I first reassembeled the belts after changing the motor mount, it made
a high-pitch screech noise, almost like a band saw when you cut wood. I
pulled off all the pulleys and belts again (ugh...) and reassembeled. It was
then that I realized it seems to be this sheetmetal piece. I played with
moving it various directions. It only goes about 1mm any direction on it's
bolts, which are also 2 of the bolts for the motor mount. I also played with
varying the tension on the belt a little. I got it so that it almost never
makes noise, but every now-and-then still does it. It's MUCH quieter now.
You have to have the hood open to hear it. It bothers me that it does it at
all, 'cause I don't think it ever did before. It made it over 400 beautiful
and quiet (new motor mounts rock!) miles this weekend, and though I popped
the hood numerous times, I only heard the noise once. It does seem to be
that sheetmetal piece, cause pushing on the flange behind the belt while the
engine's running (not something I would normally do...I used a screwdriver
handle) will start/stop the noise, but I still am not entirely sure.

Any 16v-ers have this experience? What did you do?

Neal


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