The wet sand actually sounds like an easier plan than grinding valves at home. I may also try and go to a dealer and just trade some out. From what I understand the shims are $20 a piece and when I need probably 6 its just getting a bit out of hand for cost. They really aren't that out probably .03mm when the tolerance is .02mm

wow - not sure I've read of a seized water pump before.

 

The water pump on my 96 legacy seized, car only had 90k miles. It made a bad noise for about an hour, then shredded the belt.

Have one last question (I hope) just put the timing belt on and have been reading that I may need a guide plate for the timing belt if using a manual trans. Is it completely necessary? Why is it needed on manual transmissions but not auto?

it's a safety thing having mostly to do with limiting belt shifting during jerky-movements to the car being transferred to the crank shaft. I THINK some folks a LONG time ago had timing belts jump if the car was towed by a tow truck or ??? while in gear backwards or possibly in certain types of wrecks.

 

my 06 WRX has 5 of those things. I used toothpicks that were about 1 mm to set them. YMMV

Edited February 8, 201610 yr by 1 Lucky Texan

Apparently the reason is because the very first legacys were transported by rail in gear and many of them had jumped timing when they came off. I think it's possible to jump the timing with fast changes in crank speed. Idling in trafic and you jerk the car really hard getting on/off the gas, stalling the engine on a failed hill start, etc. Autos don't have that kind of abuse due to the torque converter being a fluid connection. I always put a few auto engines in manual cars and didn't put those plates on... never had an issue. Honestly I'd just re-install it and not worry about it again.

Don't know how much they cost from a dealer or scrapyard, but they prevent the belt from jumping when in reverse in gear as Texan stated.

 

O.

The

 

Have one last question (I hope) just put the timing belt on and have been reading that I may need a guide plate for the timing belt if using a manual trans. Is it completely necessary? Why is it needed on manual transmissions but not auto?

The guide plate goes right over the top of the crankshaft pulley. From what I have been able to find it helps keep the car from slipping timing if it rolls backwards on a hill in gear. This causes the entire drivetrain/engine assembly to rotate backwards and can cause slack to form in the timing belt. It then can obviously jump and do its damage. You don't necessarily have to have the little spacer tool, I'm sure somewhere you could find the actual clearance measurement and stack up toothpicks, or feeler gauges maybe to get the proper clearance, Clarence. Remember, don't get it too tight, it will destroy the belt from the backside.

Edited February 10, 201610 yr by joomanburning