![]() Maintenance is simple and very forgiving in the case of a timing belt. The car is like an oversized go-kart and kinda fun to drive. That 3 cylinder Suzuki Swift engine is simple and no frills yet efficient and plenty powerful for someone who just wants to get around. Yes, EPA, this engine is non-interference and gets between 52-55 MPG! Sure, it is a very basic car but is so simple to repair and gets great mileage rivaling or exceeding that of modern day hybrids using 25+ year old technology. The engine simply wouldn’t start but no damage was done. I messed up and was a tooth or two off the first time around. I also replaced the water pump as it is used to mount the tensioner pulley for the timing belt and must come off for that replacement job. I used the jack to raise and lower the engine to unbolt the various parts that needed to come off for the job. I put a jack under the oil pan, placed a block of wood between the oil pan and jack (to protect the oil pan), and unbolted the passenger side engine mounts. I was able to do the job myself in about 2 hours in my driveway with nothing more than a basic metric socket set, a car jack, and a block of wood. It cost me $45 for a Gates kit with tensioner and timing seals included. Yes, it is a timing belt… BUT a non-interference engine. My other vehicle is my good gas mileage car… a 1994 Geo Metro 3 cyl 1.0L that gets 52-55mpg! I basically went through the entire thing and replaced all the common wear items after I got it. I have no idea what oil was run in it before but it now gets synthetic and there are no leaks and no oil usage. ![]() There are rumors it is a replacement junkyard engine and I have had odd parts mismatches when replacing things so I don’t know… All I know is that the engine is solid and reliable now that all the messed up sensors and such have been changed. The engine is smooth as silk and uses no oil. It was a million small little things I had to take care of before it was good truck but it is a now reliable. The engine itself was solid with no rattles so I went for it. I switched to synthetic oil in it at around 50k.Īnother is a 1997 Ford F-250 Light Duty (basically an F-150) that I got on a trade with nearly 300k. I bought it new and have always kept up on the maintenance including oil changes. It has a little over 100k and no engine issues at all. One is 2000 Chevy S-10 4.3L with the cam run by a timing chain. The end result is they have an opportunity for massive problems and you’re stuck holding the bag… They can make chains with very little design headroom and then shop the chain out to some questionable vendor in China to save a few bucks. Heck people ran gears cut specifically FOR the noise.Īnyway, like anything today, the quest for saving a few dollars is what concerns me. Like you care about timing chain noise in those applications. One was stretched on a beat motor in a 60s boat of a car, the other failed due to the nylon tooth covering GM used back in the 60s to quiet them down (on a big block w/side pipes!). I have only had two failures in my experience. Therefore, I don’t like a major service I can virtually mark on my calendar as being required and looming.Ĭhains have the potential to be more reliable. The older I get, the less inclined I am to work on my cars. It seems anytime a service is performed, there is risk of collateral damage. No way they would even consider adding valve reliefs to the piston top and dramatically increasing something they are doggedly trying to eliminate… The volume inside of the spark plug tip is a target for eliminating crevice volume as well. This is why you see the top ring located precariously close to the top of the piston in a modern design. Modern designs (within the last decade) have concentrated on an aspect known as “crevice volume” and the quest to minimize it.Ĭrevice volume is any area of the combustion chamber where gases can collect and escape being fully consumed during the combustion process. All the low hanging fruit was plucked years ago. If you look into design mitigations being pursued in modern engines, they are down to the most miniscule contributors. Will never happen due to design constraints related to exhaust emissions. Maximum performance race car engines use valve reliefs so I would think a garden variety grocery getter would do just fine with them also.” Don’t have a problem at all with belts but I do agree with Caddyman that engines should be designed as non-interference.
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