Wanted: Mazda tool #49-3953-260 (Guide, Timing Chain Adjuster)

Subject covers all the specifics I know about trying to find the beast.
It's for the '79-'82 Mazda 626, and its purpose should be
self-explanatory from the name. Looks (from the drawing in the factory
manual) to be a chunk of stamped/formed sheet-metal, but I've got
exactly zero idea about what the dimensions, angles, etc. are.

No luck via Google or other search engines, and I've been hoping to find
one through eBay for a while now, with no success.

Anybody got a clue where to locate one? Other than a Mazda dealership -
The only semi-local dealership around says "Those haven't been
available, even by special order, for years", but due to their complete
and total incompetence with anything else I've asked them having to do
with the car, I tend to not believe them as far as I can spit.

This would be the same crew of merry idiots who, when I asked what the
proper size/type/etc to use was, insisted, over and over and over again,
that the '79-'82 Mazda 626 has no "O"-ring on the distributor shaft. And
worse, maintained that insistence even after I went out to the car,
pulled the distributor, and brought it in to show them the old, worn out
one that was allowing oil to ooze down the side of the block. "Somebody
else must have put that there, then, 'cause they don't come from the
factory like that" was the response at that point. <GRRRRRRR> IDIOTS! If
that's so, why is there a very obviously machined-in groove for it???
Did somebody else put that there, too? (visualize the parts guy giving
me a blank stare, and me leaving in disgust after a few seconds) Then
there's their claim that the center-bearing of the driveline isn't
servicable when I tried to find out what numbers I needed to order a new
bearing - "You can't just replace the bearing. You have to replace the
entire driveshaft as an assembly" - despite my dropping the factory
manual for the car on the counter, opening it up to Section 8, Page 2,
Paragraph 8-A, Sections 1 through 6 and Figure 8-5, and asking "Then why
is the procedure right here in the factory book???" (The cited data
gives both an exploded-view illustration and wonderfully detailed steps
(but unfortunately, no specifications or part numbers) for removing,
inspecting, and replacing *JUST THE BEARING*) The response? "Uh, well,
nobody replaces just the bearing. It takes too long. We always just
replace the entire driveshaft if there's a problem."
<AAAAUUUUUGGGHHHHH!!!!!!> IDIOTS!

Anyway, my apologies for going off on a rant. If anyone knows where to
find oddball special-purpose tools like this one specifically (and I may
be wanting more "toys" like it, since I'm planning on doing a *TOTAL*
rebuild/recondition of a "spare" engine for this little beast of mine
*VERY* soon), I'd love to hear from you, either on the group, or via
E-mail.

Note: The current "password" that needs to be included in the Subject:
line of any E-mail to me is "PopperAndShadow", exactly as you see it,
either with or without the quotes. Without the "password", my filters
send the message straight to the junk without me ever knowing it existed.

--
Don Bruder - - New Email policy in effect as of Feb. 21, 2004.
I respond to Email as quick as humanly possible. If you Email me and get no
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Take a good look at what needs to be done, then make one. If it's a
piece of stamped steel as you say, thats half the battle. Common sense
dictates to me that you need a TENSIONER tool rather than a guide
tool. Most guides bolt on as fixed units & can't figure why a tool
would be needed to install or remove them. Most maz tensioners I've
seen will have a hole in the housing & one in the piston (hydraulic
type) so as to collapse it (in a vise) & install a pin to be removed
after install. Most others are spring loaded with a pivot bolt & a
adjustor slot bolt, pry it back, lock it down, release it when the
chains on, have a nice day. Good luck.

In article >,
(PA-ter) wrote:

> Take a good look at what needs to be done, then make one. If it's a
> piece of stamped steel as you say, thats half the battle.

Easy to say, tougher to do - I've got a single view drawing, about an
inch square, of what appears to be a piece of stamped metal with several
obvious angles and bends (but no indication of how much bend) and no
indication of actual dimensions. From all I can tell with certainty by
looking at the drawing, the thing might be ten inches, ten feet, or ten
yards across. Worse, I think it's somehow calibrated - or at least,
appears to be based on reading the text/eyeballing the pictures/drawings
- and a flange on it seems to figure as a "base point" for at least one
measurement that needs to be checked/adjusted.

> Common sense
> dictates to me that you need a TENSIONER tool rather than a guide
> tool.

I didn't name 'em! Complain to Mazda about muffed terminology!

> Most guides bolt on as fixed units & can't figure why a tool
> would be needed to install or remove them. Most maz tensioners I've
> seen will have a hole in the housing & one in the piston (hydraulic
> type) so as to collapse it (in a vise) & install a pin to be removed
> after install. Most others are spring loaded with a pivot bolt & a
> adjustor slot bolt, pry it back, lock it down, release it when the
> chains on, have a nice day. Good luck.

At this stage in the game, I've got to just take your word for things on
that score! I'm setting up to do the deed, but haven't gotten started on
it yet. Once I get things lined up and "start gettin' greasy", I have no
clue whether I'll find out you're right, wrong, or otherwise.

Thanks for the try, though!

--
Don Bruder - - New Email policy in effect as of Feb. 21, 2004.
I respond to Email as quick as humanly possible. If you Email me and get no
response, see <http://www.sonic.net/~dakidd/main/contact.html> Short
form: I'm trashing EVERYTHING that doesn't contain a password in the subject.

By "looking at it", I meant the motor, not the picture. Your on the
right track, if your gonna do it yourself & youl've already conceded
to that, tear it down & when you get to that part on the re-install,
eyeball it, see what needs to be done on that puppy & (to quote an
authority) Git 'er Done. you'll probably find something in your box or
around the shop to use in place of that "spec. tool" Good luck.