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1.3 free spinning when the timing belt breaks?

5K views 6 replies 4 participants last post by  zukiman 
#1 ·
Riddle me this. When you break a timing belt on the 1.3 engine is the top end free spinning? Or does the engine lock up and hand grenade the pistons, valves, heads, etc?

Tim Martin
87' Samurai, SPOA, 31's, 1" shackle lift, Hi-lift jack, everything else bone stock.
 
#3 ·
yes it is freespining, my friend broke his and nothing happened reallly, just cranked the engine and the pistions didnt hit.
Anton


87 Suzuki Samurai JX, Hybrid SPOA, expander shackles, removable doors, coustom bumpers, gator guard 2 interior, fast back top, rear locker, 31's, clean interior.
 
G
#4 ·
the timing belt controls the head it is in syncro with the crank,it is very possible to have the t-belt brake when the intake or exhaust valves are in the most extended point the cam will stop turning causing everything else in the head to basically freeze until the pistons come back into the head sometimes this causes bent valves I've had 2 different t-belts brake on different veichles with no appearent damage but that all could change.

Drive it like you stole it!!!
 
G
#5 ·
The stock 1300s and 1600s are non-interference motors, so no matter where in the timing cycle the belt breaks, you don't have to worry about the pistons contacting the valves. On many other cars, though, if the timing belt, chain, or gear breaks or skips a tooth, you could be in for major damage.

Suzuki recommends changing the Samurai's timing belt every 60,000 miles I believe. With my GTi hybrid engine, it is not even close to being a non-interference design anymore. In fact, we were worrying that with its shaved head, GTi 16-valve flat-top pistons, and the 8-valve head with a high-lift cam, it might have been an interference motor with everything running properly! No worries, though, it is fine until I break a timing belt. To safeguard against this, I will be replacing my timing belt once a year since it's such a quick and easy job.

But for a regular Samurai motor, you have no worries. The worst a broken timing belt will do is leave you stranded. So carry a spare!

--Geoff Beasley

 
G
#7 ·
I wish I knew of a dyno somewhere that I could put it on, because I'm really curious how exactly it stacks up not only to a stock 1300, but also compared to 8-valve and 16-valve 1600s, rather than just a worthless anecdotal seat-of-the-pants feeling or impromptu stopwatch drag races. :)

Although by no means scientific because we haven't been able to drag race side-by-side, both I and my friend Adam agree that my GTi hybrid engine smokes his 8-valve 1600. The only "side-by-side" comparison we did was driving up the summit from where the Rubicon starts back to my family's house, and at those high elevations with long 2nd and 3rd-gear highway hills, I wound up WAY ahead of him by the time we got back to my place, without even driving like I was racing him. In other words, I wasn't pulling 8500rpm, I was just doing normal 6000rpm shifts.

The closest thing to a scientific measurement of this engine I have are some printouts from that software called Desktop Dyno. After plugging in all the specs for the displacement, cam, etc., it says my motor peaks at 105hp and 92ft-lbs of torque if memory serves correctly. That was much higher than when compared to my friend's 8-valve 1600 in the same software.

Right now I'm just running a Weber. When I get these dual Mikunis on it, I should have no problem keeping up with 16-valve 1600s. My sister's X-90 has one and weighs about the same as my Samurai, and it's a big more powerful, but not all that much more. The big difference is with wind resistance....my Samurai's about as aerodynamic as a barn door, so it would take a V8 to get any kind of highway performance out of the vehicle, but that would just suck the doors right off it at those high speeds anyways. :)

--Geoff Beasley
Suzuki Tech Editor: http://www.Off-Road.com
 
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