Timing Belt Cover Necessary?

Im gonna buy new timing and alternator belts from this part store conveniently named "payless" :D for hopefully around 50 canadian. they said they'd sell me the timing belt for $36 canadian. Anyway my timing belt cover is off for now and i was just wondering if it's necessary to have it on? i've seen pictures of honda's with no timing belt cover. What's the deal?

The cover is completely unnecessary but is cheap insurance. It's there to do what you would expect a cover to do, protect the timing belt and pulleys from debis (rocks, water, canoes, etc...). GL

I've worked on a car that only had the bottom part of the cover on, with the top part off. And we ended up finding a chunk of wood down in it. Personally I'd leave at least the bottom part of it on. The usual reason people don't put on the top one is either to show off some cam gears for adjustability sake or just for "show".

I've worked on a car that only had the bottom part of the cover on, with the top part off. And we ended up finding a chunk of wood down in it. Personally I'd leave at least the bottom part of it on. The usual reason people don't put on the top one is either to show off some cam gears for adjustability sake or just for "show".

I agree with CivicSpoon the only reason to have it off is if you are racing this thing like daily and having to constantly adjust shit, or people leave them off to show off their cam gears. Leave the cover on just take it off it you need to adjust it then put it back on, its not that hard to get off and on when you need to. taking that cover off is a hell of a lot easier than replacing shit if something breaks your timing belt and your valves get screwed

yeah just imagin a rock coming in from the top when your redlining and the rock gets wedge between the sprocket and say the motor. i think we can all think the worst imaginable thing and something worse would end up having. i'd leave it on.

While on the topic of timing belt covers...Do i have to remove my valve cover to get the upper timing belt cover off my D15? I removed the timing belt cover bolts but i cant seem to wiggle it free, the valve cover seems to be holding it in place...thanks

yeah i would keep it on. keeps debris out of harms way. most reason you see people not having them on b series is aftermarket gears dont clear the valve cover. unless you are doing tuning on your car a lot, i would leave it on.

and yes you need to remove the valve cover to get the upper portion of the TB cover off.

Yeah mine is removed, and I have Skunk2 gears...Im pretty sure they would clear, but it still cut away... However, the lower cover is still on.http://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/3/web/627000-627999/627419_6.jpg

While on the topic of timing belt covers...Do i have to remove my valve cover to get the upper timing belt cover off my D15? I removed the timing belt cover bolts but i cant seem to wiggle it free, the valve cover seems to be holding it in place...thanks

Nope honda is smart and tuner friendly; you dont have to remove the valve cover

Nope honda is smart and tuner friendly; you dont have to remove the valve cover

You sure about that? I tried with no luck and Hybrid seems to agree that the valve cover needs to come off. I just wanna know since i need to check the condition of my TB and cant seem to pry the cover off...

After i took the bolts off my timing belt cover on my 1.6 crx, it was still stuck, theres a lip that's tucked under the valve cover, just press it down and wiggle it free, thats what i did.

it can be taken off w/o taking the valve cover off, but it gets stuck sometimes because it has a lip, 4twenty is completely correct,.

4twenty is completely correct,. :smokin:

My old set up never had any covers... top or bottom. And I rallied that bitch like it was going out of style on gravel roads, through some serious shit. Maybe I'm just lucky...

Haven't had the top cover on my new set up for years and rallied that set up too. I mean, I've driven pretty freaking fast down gravel roads and the only problem with rocks was having them get stuck in the rocker panels and in between exhaust pipe.

Oh yeah, funny thing... If I didn't have my bottom cover on my timing belt I would know that it snapped down by the water pump. It looked right and tight on the cam gear. I was scratching my head. Lucky no damage. Still a POS though... haha.