GTR SIGH!!!!! Water Pump blew up while driving

[gtstevan]

haha i never heard of red dust from a timing belt befor eigther it was also a first for me so dont feel bad :P

[judasentinel]

UPDATE:

It's been a crazy week for me, so I couldn't work on the car. Still waiting on the water pump to arrive. But Just for s h i t s and giggles, I decided to start car and see how the engine ran. FIRED RIGHT UP!! Smooth engine running, no weird noises and no metal on metal sounds. I didnt see any coolant mixed in oil or any oil in the coolant when I drained the engine. So perhaps the head gasket is fine? I think I only drove it for a minute before the water pump pulley connector and the belt snapped and wrapped around the crank pulley and the fan and decided to get lodged in the space between the rad and the engine. So perhaps it didnt cause any catastrophic damage, but I am not sure.

What could happen if the crank pulley was suddenly prevented from spinning and the car shut down? Could it cause damage to cams or any other internals? Highly doubt it, but then I'm no expert on engine internals. I think I'm looking for some truthful encouragement and hope that my engine is fine.

What say you? Am I good?

PS: To knate: We all make mistakes, and sometimes, misinformation seems too widely held to appear as faulty. We only learn from mistakes, otherwise why would we change and improve? I am happy that you know the facts now about red dust on coils.

[judasentinel]

UPDATE:

Just found out today that I have the R33/34 water pump with a wider slot for one of the bolts. There are two 10mm bolts on the water pump, four 14mm ones and five are 12mm. The one with the slot is the 10mm one. So as Manny had suggested in another thread by a fellow GTRCer, I put excessive amount of water pump gasket maker around the 10mm bolt, and then put on a slightly wider fender washer on top of it. Fingers crossed, I hope it doesn't leak, otherwise everything is coming off again (grrrrr.....).

Finally got the timing belt replaced, greased the idler and tensioner. Luckily, there was no rust on them. But I still sprayed a bit of Jig-a-Loo thingy on it, to make it rotate more freely. Installed it back on, but I am concerned if the timing was dead on at TDC. Is there ANY leeway for that? To me, it seemed that all three marks lined up, especially the crankshaft gear. The other two on the cam pulleys were maybe off by half a mm. Will I be fine?

My second concern is installation of the tensioner. I did what the manual says, but somehow, I dont know if I have left any slack at all in the belt. Doesn't seem there is much, but I need a second opinion. Any way to check and know how much slack is acceptable?

The lower timing cover is back on, but it is grinding against the crank pulley. I need to tighten it a bit.

Tomorrow, I am installing the fan, the belts and the pulleys. Can I do without installing the AC belt? I really dont care about the AC, but dont have the nerve right now to remove the compressor and the other idler pulley underneath. Is it safe to run without the AC belt?

Assuming the installation went ok, I am hoping to be back on the road this weekend. But I have a request to anyone who is local and knows stuff....I would love it if you could come over and take a look at what I have done, blow holes in my work and tell me if anything is out of place or wrongly done. Would really appreciate responses and any help that anyone can give.

Thanks, everyone. You all have been great help and inspiration..........

Munib