Pls Help Me! Honda Noob :(

[mad_steez]

So i bought this '86 civic/1.5 2BBL/5spd for $500. Overheated on the lady, shop told her she needed a new rad. Replaced rad/thermo/pump, $300 later ran like a champ. One morning started it up, idled rough, backfired occasionally when i cranked it, and constantly if i punched it up to around 2300 RPM. Didn't drive it anywhere. Shut it down, checked the gap and condition of the plugs/wires. Plugs were corroded but not terrible... found a faulty wire leading to 3rd cyl. Replaced wire... Problem persisted... Replaced plugs, no diff... Tried to take it around the block and there was NO POWER. Trying to start it (i live in a hilly town) around 2500RPM it felt like i was in 3rd gear, NO POWER, just stalls up... Checked the clutch linkage to see if maybe it was clutch slip stopping me in my tracks, no... So i thought, timing... Maybe i did something when i changed the pump (even though i was very careful not to and it ran fine afterward). Thought i had TDC, aligned crank pulley notch with arrow on block and cam parallell with top of head... Apparently i'm doing something wrong... HELP!!!

[mad_steez]

So i decided to take anouther stab at it and found my mistake. Hence the subject line 'noob'... Anyways, turns out i was lining up the groove that should be facing 90* up with the arrow on the block instead of the TINY scrape like notch on the pulley, lol. Once i realised my error and lined the notch with the arrow and the groove 90*, the belt lined up nicely with the cam pulley sitting parallell with the top of the head... The engine fired up and ran as well as an 20 year old engine can. My only question is... how much play should there be in the belt? :S

[lxndr]

Originally Posted by mad_steez

My only question is... how much play should there be in the belt? :S

The tensioner pulley/spring will take up the slack. There's nothing to worry about so long as the tensioner and belt are in good working condition.

[mad_steez]

Yeah i need to go pull off the accessory pulley right now and check and see if i lost my timing again. this morning it stalled out and i think the belt may have slipped a notch and thrown my timing retarted again, same symptoms. Perhaps my concerns about how much slack there was is because the belt is too stretched. The pulley itself appears to be in good condition, as the spring. They appear to provide adequate tension, if the belt were slightly smaller... I'll post again if the belt didn't slip, but i think i just need a new timing belt. Thanks for your post.