i just took my 16 valve 1.6 motor apart and noticed that it didn't have the main cap girdle's,the other last 2 motor's i pulled apart had them.my motor has been apart before so what I'm asking is did they forget to re install them or in 1998 did they not use them any more? are they really needed or what will happend if there not installed back on

I took a look at the parts catalogue - the "girdle" is not shown on the 96~98 engines - so maybe it was never fitted, it's there on 89~95.

By the way - I'm assuming that when you say "girdle" you're referring to a strip of metal (two of them) that fit under the main cap bolts which Suzuki calls it a "stiffener, crank bearing cap".

thank's for the info  fordem.   the other motor's i tore down were 95 & later.