Devia

Yes, this is an important tip, and I simply can't emphasize it enough! Whenever you are working on the engine, timing belt area, rule of thumb when you are finished: NO SPARE PARTS! If you do, you missed something that will bite you in the tush later on.

I've had this happen twice so far, and it's a very humbling experience, when you have everything back together, and are looking at some bolts.

For instance, about 8 years ago when we replaced an engine in bf's Tercel, I was the one pouring over the manual, and trying to make sure that things were done right. Well, things still went wrong, and we had some bolts left over. The car was shaking violently, and had to have the car looked over by his dad. When lifted up, turned out that we were so tired, we had inserted ONE bolt, between the engine and transmission...but forgot the other 5 or something, yiikes! Even the manual didn't save us from that one; we were all exhausted.

At our get togethers here in S. Cali, I try to make sure that we all sit down and eat, relax, rather than just have our heads constantly under the cars. Mistakes happen when you are rushed, most of the time.

Yesterday, we were fortunate that a costly mistake chose to rear its ugly head two years later, AT the get together! I'd been feeling kind of squeamish driving my car, since my last timing belt, balance belt change. I have a saying, "Only YOU know your car", when it comes to that kind of thing. My squeamish feeling turned into a full blown nightmare, when I went to move my car forward, for us to look at her. She started this horrific rattling from the Timing belt cover, I swear I nearly fainted! Strange smells have also been coming into the car, kind of like fried fish for two years(I've been laughed at for that description, but it's true; what it smells like). It didn't stop when I replaced the crispy-crittered computer brain, of course not; life isn't easy for me like that.

After we pulled the timing belt cover, the source of the noise was obvious: the timing belt pulley bolt WAS NOT THERE!

We looked, and looked around for the bolt, but never found it. We chalked it up to "left over part syndrome". Fortunately Frank, my guardian angel, had an extra one, and fixed it. The burning 'fried fish smell' has been from the balance belt forwarded too much, so the top corner of the teeth have been rubbing against the metal thing sticking out of the engine, behind the timing belt. A small percentage of the back teeth are missing from the rubbing, but won't mess with the balance belt operations. The belt angle has been corrected.

Ergo, I just can't reiterate enough that whenever we all think things are done, take a break, relax, eat, and then double check before closing things up. Heck, triple check!

We'd been working in the rain for hours. I was there for about 9 of it, and we'd 'caterpillared' it over from the back, so we could work without being drenched, but we were all cold towards the end. At least it kept the cement dry!! We also were able to replace the trunk gasket, and didn't even need to cut it to fit, thank goodness!

My car? She purred after that, the best she's sounded in three years, since the whacky computer brain issues started. She was a champion in the rain, hugging the freeway snugly in the curves. I now feel safe driving her again.

88BlueTSiQuest

I usually never have any spare parts..... Somehow I always end up with too little parts......

DarkGrey

"whenever we all think things are done, take a break, relax, eat, and then double check before closing things up."

That should be bolded at the bottom of every page of the shop manual lol. We all get so eager to tackle a problem that 6, 7, 8 hours go by and you start fumbling with the wrong socket size or forgetting where you set that bolt down 10 seconds ago.

This is my second time pulling the engine in my car, and I can definately vouch for Devia's motto. Knowing when to take a break can easily effect how far in the future you'll be opening things up again. Sadly, this seems to be something any serious wrencher learns from experience!

Devia

Dark Grey, you honor me! I'm going to take the Excerpt you posted, print it out, and post it across my garage in 8 inch letters, "Whenever we all think things are done, take a break, relax, eat, and then double check before closing things up."

Blue TSiQuest, that can happen too - parts roll around, underneath things. I love using disposable lunch containers with lids, and toss parts into those if the strut towers run out of space, lol.

- Julie

88BlueTSiQuest

It's not just parts..... I sometimes lose tools. Damn 951 has eaten a few sockets and an allen socket.

I hope those will turn up someday

DarkGrey

lol So my car isnt the only one..

I'd love to have my 19mm shallow back...
But hey, if sacrificing a socket or two is what it takes, so be it! After all, they make more sockets everyday. 944's on the other hand..

Devia

...usually we find the tools sitting on top of the transmission, hahaha!

whalebird

One thing I learned a while back that always seems to help me is muffin pans. Yes , muffin pans. Go to a discount dollar type store and buy as many muffin pans(for use in the kitchen) in as many sizes as you can find. Small 12 hole ones, larger 6 hole,and any other variety you see. Non-stick not needed. When disassembling a project, place each component and or its fasteners in a muffin hole. Each new step along the way warrents a new muffin hole. In the end all hardware are grouped in order they were removed. Try it. Once you get used to this you will find muffin pans to be one of the most important tools in your garage. I have done complete restorations with all hardware and components in muffin pans. Took stacks of them on the road when racing in IMSA. Oddly enough, Porsche and Benz training facilaties are covered in them and somewhere there is an old picture of muffin pans in the Weissach garages. Try it, you'll be surprised.

88BlueTSiQuest

How'd they get all the way back there??

Will Feather

+1 on muffin pans, very very helpful.

also lots of brown paper bags and a sharpie...

Yummybud924

lol. my tools mysteriously go missing also. It really pisses me off when I lose a tool.

when I work on my car I obsess about every single thing like the torque specs and if everythign is properly fitting so I check everything a million times.

944obscene

Did a clutch job with my friend on his GLH Omni and had a bracket left over... Never did find out where it went. Forget the bolts. There were more than 6 left over. Good things he cares nothing about it. Sold the car to his brother who did a complete make over on it.

crooster

I try to be super methodical. Every part goes in a zip lock bag and its labelled with a sharpie. All the zip locks go into a box. I always try to put the tools down in the same spot, usually on a roll around shop table so I don't misplace anything. Of course at some point I will put a tool down somewhere else and spend ages finding it.

DarkGrey

I use the same muffin-tin concept but with the sliding trays on my wall mounted organizer. I place all the head hardware in a single tray, then write "Head" on a sticky note and lay it on top. The same for "Cam Assembly", "Starter" and so on. The bottom few rows I save for any loose washers, "unknowns", or leftovers from another engine lol.

On a side note: I cant even BEGIN to describe how bloody handy having a parts engine has been. Exhaust studs that snap, a tiny 10mm bolt for the fuel rail falling down into the shadows..not a problem when you have the luxury of walking over and simply picking another one out of a tray

Legoland951

This is why I have triplicates of the same tool. I have the cheap harbor freight tools that are expendible, the craftsman tools that are also somewhat expendible, and the snap on tools that would **** me off if I lost. I rarely have any "factory spare parts" left over and if I did, I would know where it came from so it goes back. Most of the time, I have to dig in my bolts buckets to find ones that are missing from the car I am working on - as in your car Julie