Timing Belt / Water Pump change.

[hudsonb]

Welp, my water pump has started making sad sounds. The PO claimed that the timing belt was changed at 120,000 (I bought the car about a year ago, it has 133,000+ now), but whatever... must not have replaced the water pump, or used a crap one. Anyway, I'm pretty sure it's the water pump and I love projects... If it's not, I don't mind doing it so I know the date for sure on the timing belt.

I'm planning on getting the Finish Line/Rosenthal kit. I'm also planning on getting a crank tool from Flyin' Miata (or something similar, recommendations? What about the front seal installer? Seems a little extreme). Are there any pieces missing from the Rosenthal kit? I've reviewed the write-up on the miata.net garage section and have various manuals.

Any other thoughts? Nothing I've read seems to mention replacing the thermostat, or replacing hoses, which all seem like appropriate things to do at the same time, considering the effort/investment at that point. Anything else I should do or check out when I'm torn in there?

Thanks!

[imsuchanoob]

mine works fine and has even seen msr + my everyday ridiculous driving. the o-ring i received for the thermostat housing was too large so i re-used the old one. be careful with the main seal on top of the waterpump. comes with all belts, tensioner and idler pulley, spring, everything you need. i took out the fan on the drivers side to get more room. cant think of anything else. have fun.

[motorollow]

I would check out the radiator to make sure it is in good condition.

[jelliott25]

I didn't get the o-ring that goes between the block and the thermostat neck with my finish line kit that I bought a couple of weeks ago. Other than that everything was dandy.

[jelliott25]

The other thing I wish I'd had was the rubber seal that goes around the plastic covers. Mine were all swollen and mishapen from years of being soaked in oil I guess. I don't know if those are even available though. I ended up having to cut a bit out of the seals lengthwise and use a little rtv to stick them into the grooves in the covers. I had a really big socket that I used to drive the crank/cam seals and that worked perfectly fine.