Cambelt---current advice.

[Roy Lewington]

Cambelt is due for a change.  It was a Lotus belt fitted Feb 2018 and has done 3000 miles.   So what are the current change recommendations?  There seem to be plenty of belts available going from £45 to well above £100.  Lotus and non-Lotus.   I do not want a blue belt on my car.  'Lotus Bits' advertise a German-made belt and I quote 'Made from the same HSN material as the OEM Lotus one, allowing generous change intervals potentially as much as 50000 miles'.

So what is the current advice.  My gut feeling is to go with a genuine Lotus belt and change it every 4 years.   Any thoughts?  Roy.

[Sparky]

Gates 5206 is in wide use as a replacement, and I've fitted them to scores of cars without issue.  It is 1mm narrower than the Lotus belt which was in fact manufactured by Gates.  If you can find a Gates 5168, it's exactly the same as the Lotus one.

[Roy Lewington]

I've done a few cambelts on my X180 and this is how I do it.  It's been mentioned before but stands repeating.

Line the marks up to check all is well.

Slowly turn the crank whilst cutting the belt in half longways with a sharp Stanley knife. Remove the cut half.

Slacken the tensioner and half push on the new belt.

Cut the rest of the old belt off and push the new one fully on.

Tension and check the marks.

Job done apart from the annoying requirement to drain off some of the coolant and disconnect hoses.    Roy.

[Sparky]

Each to their own but I would never, ever do that.  And good luck if you have a semi-automatic tensioner.

[Zig]

Roy Lewington wrote: "I do not want a blue belt on my car".   

My question is: WHY???  

The Blue timing belt was developed originally for competition Nissan engines in Japan and is the most durable timing belt on the market.  Blue belt is over 300% stronger than HSN material. Does not age as fast as HSN one.

Originally I was working with Gates Engineering on getting few engineering samples imported (for my personal use).  During the follow-up discussion with one of the engineers I learned that a new "party" joined and was also interested in acquiring a few belts.  I was told that the contact name was "Jeff" from JAE.  I did call Jeff and discussed his project. I was not interested in independently marketing the belt. We agreed that Jeff will help me getting the timing belt through his project and I will sees my project...

The rest is history.  

Zig

 

 

Edited September 28, 2022 by Zig

[snowrx]

When I went looking for a better belt for my  G-car, I found that one of the older Nissan motors used a trapezoidal belt, for which Gates makes the T104RB "racing" Blue Belt. 1mm narrower than OEM, but the better material and slips right on.

So if you still have a trapezoidal pully set, there's an option for you.

[Roy Lewington]

I appreciate that the blue belt is superior.   It was just a personal preference I didn't want one because, well,-----------it was blue.

I don't think they do it in black.

[Bibs]

[andydclements]

I get how a blue belt can look out of place surrounded by lots of black rubber pipes, and if in a concourse show then might even detract. The rubber of the "standard" belt of the curved tooth system is more than adequate, the blue belt just gives the extra comfort (or longer intervals)

[Chillidoggy]

So, what are the ‘blue belt’ service intervals?

[andydclements]

There isn't going to be a specified interval as we would be using it in a non-recommended situation, but you could easily push the belt replacement out by an extra year probably more. For some that might be every two years instead of one (because some of us worry), for others three years instead of two.

[CarBuff]

7 hours ago, andydclements said:

you could easily push the belt replacement out by an extra year probably more.

Being that the B-prefix Lotus black belts had a recommended interval of THREE years rather than two of the A-prefix, you surely could stretch the interval with the Gates belt quite a bit.

We replaced our initial blue belt at eight years old (26,000 miles). This, on an Esprit that never sat for long periods of time...😇

[andydclements]

I certainly would push the interval like that, but some owners are extra cautious. If it's a job that a garage will perform, that's a few £hundred each time, so an extra £50-£100 on a belt that pushes even just an extra year would make financial sense, an extra two or more years is even better financial, sense to me.

[cammmy]

I've been replacing my belt every two years because I thought that was the interval. Is it actually 3? I've been using the "Steve's alternative" from SJ.