What are the arts?

[Tobi]

For 6 years I have been driving my 81 Spider like a maniac, with no knowledge about the history of the timing belt.
What are the arts that it rips while I am rolling out of the garage?
Even though I did not expect that to happen in my drive way I know right away what happened. I never heard a motor sounding as lifeless as this one when I tried starting it again.
Funny thing is that for next week I was planing on taking out the motor to redo the block and put an 1.8 head on it.
More to that later.
Now I am wondering if I should expect any internal damage when I open it up and again it is a 1981?

[djape1977]

i suppose you're talking about 2 liter motor? seems you've been very lucky! usually crankshaft hits the auxiliary shaft and sometimes knocks it straight tru the side of engine block. just install new timing belt and try to start it.

[Fi8spider]

These are interference heads, expect bent valves at a minimum.

[azruss]

If it is a stock 2L, they are supposed to be non-interference.....not that i've ever tested one. Once the belt broke, the valves stopped moving and hopefully stopped at someplace where one of the valves wasnt fully open. As others have said, the cam on the aux shaft is the problem and you actually have about a 90 degree window of non-interference. So hopefully you got lucky.

[Tobi]

Yes it is a original 2.0 and probably never been opened. A 90 degree window means 25% chance that the aux shaft did not mess thinks up?
As I said before, I was planing on starting a block remodel next week and than install a different head (1.8l) on it.

Now my question is:
When I open the motor, will all damage be visible to me or should I rather put on a new timing belt and see if it runs before I take it apart? The second option sounds a bit like a waste of time but if it make sense.

I do have a complete spare motor siting in the shelve that I would like to keep as a spare and redo one day.

[courtenay]

Timing belts are cheap. I'd go with the second option if you're not ready to pull and rebuild the engine now. It might be just fine.

[narfire]

2L are non-interference unless perhaps one puts in the hi-dome pistons.
I like Bruce's suggestion...line everything up including the aux shaft, put on a new belt and suggest a new belt tension bearing if it is really old.

Set the timing at 10 deg and try that and see what it feels like. If you are concerned try a compression test...

[Tobi]

Have been working on the motor today to remove it. I could not get the crank pulley off yet but it seems like the belt lost all the teeth on the bottom. When I turn the crank the belt does not move.
When I crank it by hand there is a light resistance approximately 225 degree after it passes the timing mark and that is exactly when the mark on the pulley is on the bottom.
It moves easily over that point. Must be the aux shaft.

[azruss]

If the aux shaft is located between 12 and 3 o'clock it is not interfering. If the crank hits the aux shaft cam, it will be a hard stop, not just mild drag.

[Tobi]

Thanks again Russ, I finally got the crank pulley off by cutting the nut. Turns out about four inches of teeth are missing on the belt and the aux pulley stopped around 9:30 to 10 o'clock.
I hope I have a chance to open the motor Monday or Tuesday. It really looks like I could have been lucky.

[Tobi]

Lucky me
Got it all open and there was no piston to valve contact and the aux shaft shows a little rubbing spot on the end that I am going to cut off anyway. The rubbing spot is about 3mm x 4mm and maybe 2/10 of a mm deep. Looks almost polished.
Now find some more horses, make it all shiny and put it back in.