So today I decided to change my distributor caps and rotors. I blaze through the driver side and move over to the passenger side. Everything's going great until......a bolt slips out of my fingers and falls down into the black abyss below the timing belt cover.

After some yelling and a few choice words, I decided to figure out how the hell to get it out of there, and feared for my timing belt.
Using the lovely CL search function I was able to figure out I needed to remove the alternator and belt tensioner pulley. That actually went smoother than expected.

As I'm pulling off the housing for the tensioner I hear a little "*****". I look around the engine, below the car, and the bolt is nowhere to be seen. At this point I'm thinking no F'ing way it went deeper down the timing belt. I get under the car once more and scavenge around for the bolt. As I'm lying on my back I stare up at the engine, and think how much it's going to suck to tear it apart even more. However, at that moment I saw a shiny little object wedged in the frame below. It was the bolt!

Success!

 

Did you follow the writeup on lexls.com or did you have a manual? Pretty straightforward? Did you change your plugs and wires at the same time? Last question haha did you have trouble reaching the bolt under the passenger side timing cover near the alternator? I read there is one underneath that you have to use an extension to reach.

 

I mainly used the Lexls writeup. However I didn't remove the coolant hose. It actually was pretty straight forward, just frustrating when the bolt dropped lol. I'm changing the wires yes, but the plugs were already changed recently. Yes you definitely need some extensions to reach a couple of the bolts. I think there is 6 total.

 

You removed your coolant resevior correct?

 

That's some scary stuff man. I'd be screwed if I dropped a bolt in my SC's engine....

 

Cool story bro!

 

Nope you don't have to remove it.