Im going to be dropping in an 02 Sohc engine into my 97. Im not sure if the new engines have a timeing belt cover, but if they do, would it be okay to take it off permenatly. The only reson is, the engine is coming from the junkyard, and it has 52,xxx miles, im not going to have the money to replace the belt before it goes in the car. So i can take (break) the cover off before i put it in the car. I know how hard it is to take the cover off while the engine is in the car.

 

isnt that hard to take the cover off in the car.......you really dont wanna break that cover off and leave it like that....or soon you might be changing another motor

 

I believe the only thing u have to worry about is water. I have a hole cut around my cam gear so I can tune it. It's unlikely for anything to get in that small area right?

 

actually...if you drive down alot of gravel roads then gravel dust and rocks can get in there....
you dont want that belt getting water on it...or do you want the bearings in all the pulleys to get water in them fore they will eventually start to rust...or just go out...
being that the tire is right there..anything on the ground can get in there....even if you ran over a dead animal

 

from my experience (spud was right) you need to get the crank pulley off to get the tensioner off anyways, so your pulling off the hardest part anyways to change your belt. The only other slightly difficult part is getting the motor mount off, and it is just as easy as jacking up the motor.