2000 Honda Civic 1.6L under valve cover pics

[Cdn17Sport6MT]

2000 Honda Civic 1.6L with 160k miles. A friend just picked it up and I replaced the timing belt, tensioner, water pump, coolant, and valve cover gasket on it.

Here is a pic from under the valve cover. Judging by the service stickers on the windshield and the numerous oil change receipts in the glovebox, it has had Valvoline or Pennzoil conventional 5w30 every 5-6,000 miles with cheap quickie lube filters. We used Pennzoil HM 5w30 and a Fram PH3593A filter.

Could someone advise, of course including the OP, whether that is a SOHC V Tec. (which occurred, in the US version Civic EX 2 door or 4 door / Canadian version Si 2 door) - or whether it is the plain-jane version 1.6 litre Honda in the DX and other. My version is the SOHC V Tec, if memory serves, about 127 hp (mebe 126 hp?).

My basic questions, then, as well are: how much of a PITA was the timing belt? For the SOHC V Tec it is pretty tight, there, between the frame horn and the "front" of the engine. At the least, I believe, a person needs to use a block of wood to jack / support the engine while the engine support that the timing belt has to go around... is removed, correct? Also, of course the ultimate test on the correct cam timing is that when the engine is barred-over, say, two turns, when the crank is on TDC... that the timing marks for the cam sprocket properly line up... so, in regards to the tension in the timing belt, should a person start with the camshaft sprocket, say, a half-a tooth "advanced" (I should say, turned anti-clockwise), while the crank pulley is on TDC, to facilitate / make it easier, to slip the belt on? Then, when it is barred-over, the slack will be taken up and all will line up 100%...

 

[PimTac]

It doesn’t get much better than that.

 

[jeepman3071]

Could someone advise, of course including the OP, whether that is a SOHC V Tec. (which occurred, in the US version Civic EX 2 door or 4 door / Canadian version Si 2 door) - or whether it is the plain-jane version 1.6 litre Honda in the DX and other. My version is the SOHC V Tec, if memory serves, about 127 hp (mebe 126 hp?).

My basic questions, then, as well are: how much of a PITA was the timing belt? For the SOHC V Tec it is pretty tight, there, between the frame horn and the "front" of the engine. At the least, I believe, a person needs to use a block of wood to jack / support the engine while the engine support that the timing belt has to go around... is removed, correct? Also, of course the ultimate test on the correct cam timing is that when the engine is barred-over, say, two turns, when the crank is on TDC... that the timing marks for the cam sprocket properly line up... so, in regards to the tension in the timing belt, should a person start with the camshaft sprocket, say, a half-a tooth "advanced" (I should say, turned anti-clockwise), while the crank pulley is on TDC, to facilitate / make it easier, to slip the belt on? Then, when it is barred-over, the slack will be taken up and all will line up 100%...

This Civic is a DX, 1.6L SOHC non-Vtec. The timing belt job was very easy. If you can pay attention and turn a wrench you can do it. The hardest part to this job in my opinion is getting the notorious crank bolt loose. I needed a special crank bolt socket and a 3/4" impact for this particular one. My 1/2 impact and regular socket wouldn't budge it, but it was also probably one of the tightest Honda crank bolts I've come across.

As far as doing the job, I highly recommend you search "Eric The Car guy" on youtube, as he has a pretty good video on doing a timing belt replacement on these engines.