My 95 GT is about to hit 200k and I thought I would do some preventative maintenance especially since I have no idea if the timing belt has ever been changed. Should I change the headgasket while im in there? I have no idications of there being a bad HG. Im gonna purchase a compression test kit and test the compression while im in there.

I have seen Azian Advanced thread on his replacement. However, I have a question relating to the timing. I have done a timing and head replacement job on a Neon before, but it was SOHC and all the timing marks were where they were suppose to be. I have also attempted to do a headgasket on a Sentra and that went horribly wrong. I had marked the 2 cam sprockets on the Sentra, but the sentra has this variable oil pressure timing sprocket....which turns and that messed up the position of the cams. If anything like that happens...once I get the engine to TDC how do I set the timing for the cams if there are no marks on the sprockets?

Anything else I should get done while im in there?

actually there's a hole on the cam sprocket that should line up with a notch on the head while the engine is at TDC.

ah, so thats what you were talking about. I never opened a 5sfe up before...so its DOHC, but the cams are both driven by one sprocket?

This post has been edited by m2736185: Feb 16, 2012 - 9:09 PM

yup

if you are going to do that much work, just pull the engine out. it will make the maintenance soooo much easier.

If I pulled the engine out I would be tempted to replace the bearings and piston rings and do a whole rebuilding job, but then I dont think I would be able to put it all back together. It did take me a week to do a clutch job.

thats a good idea! do it all! thats what i did, i have a good guide for the 7A, i never did one for the 5S and i should have when i did mine. its really not that difficult. just take some time and brass balls.

Ha, I have seen your 7A rebuild thread and thats insane you got all of that done in 2 days. Its very tempting I have been itching to do a full engine rebuild, but right now I cannot be carless for a month. I think i might be capable of doing it since I learned a huge lesson replacing the head on a sentra...LABEL everything including every single screw.

The only thing I am really uncomfortable with is the timing, but from what I have seen the 5s seems like everything lines up easily. Just incase I do decide to go down that road do you think I would need to get the crank rebalanced or the blocked bored? How bad is the typical wear on a 5s