Cambelts in Matamata..

[Dave Smart]

I had my '90 (132,000k) booked in to have my cambelt done along with a check
of an oil leak and a WOF tomorrow - unfortunately my cambelt broke 15 minutes
north of Matamata yesterday afternoon!

Luckily for me, my valves WEREN'T damaged and repairs are underway now.

There was apparently a telltale sign that my belt was about to go, and that
was the oil leak in the driveway - the oil leaked onto the belt and caused it
to snap before I got to the man. So if you're running an older model and have
been putting the cambelt replacement off like I was - stop procrastinating!

Dear 'Rodney' is still sitting at the AA in Matamata until I can pick him up
on Saturday.
Until then though, I'm stuck driving round Auckland in my other half's
Corolla. Oh the shame...

Dave.

[SLYDIT]

You could get it sent up the road to hamilton, Don at
Autoways will sort it out.

--- Dave Smart <davesmart@xtra.co.nz> wrote:
[...]

[zorruno]

on 15/11/2004 10:58 p.m. Dave Smart wrote:

I had my '90 (132,000k) booked in to have my cambelt done along with a
check of an oil leak and a WOF tomorrow - unfortunately my cambelt broke
15 minutes north of Matamata yesterday afternoon!

Luckily for me, my valves WEREN'T damaged and repairs are underway now.

it would be very unusual for there to be valve damage with a broken cam
belt in an MX5. If a belt breaks you will generally just stop and be
inconvenienced.

The MX5 has a non-interference engine in all models that I know of - the
valves cannot hit the pistons as the pistons have little wells in them
where the valves sit. Even if the belt breaks, the valves won't touch.

pic found on google showing the wells:
http://www.mx5club.org.nz/downloads/piston.jpg

The only way it could hit would be if the valve was already bent
somehow, the pistons were non-standard, or the head had a severe shaving...

And I second taking it to Don at Autoway Services if it is not too
late... he just did my belt along with a bit of other preventative (and
howard-induced) maintenance that I didn't have time to do. Don even
delivered it back to Auckland for me when he drove up with his wife for
the next club run.

cheers
zorruno