M20 Gates Racing Belt Coming Soon.....

[squidmaster]

I'm interested in one as well. Already one new 30 in my garage that needs a new belt, and maybe another one soon.

[e21jps]

When you spend on a performance build that has stronger valve springs i would not hesitate to use a stronger belt. My roller set up has 280lb open pressure thats near double standard pressure so the belt is getting a good workout.

i would buy couple for sure

[darvo]

Interested!

[doktor_b]

in for two of these when they become available. (engine in the car, and the one on the stand)

[MR 325]

Looking forward to it!

[IveGotIssues666]

Nothing can really be said until a product is made, customer tested, and reviewed. That's really it IMO

Hit the nail on the head here, and that's basically what I said in my above post

I will update this thread as soon as I hear something from the Gate Rep and post up and more info. But the belt is "suppose" to be made by September this year sometime

Jared

[Cletonius]

Also interested. I'm about halfway through my service interval

[1owNslo]

I too would be interested in getting one of these... also would tend to agree with the above. we've all seen aftermarket thrive... and we have seen it fail as well as OEM parts. id also be curious on what hardware to use if I were to use this on my car. I think the point tho, in respect to Gates, is that aside from all the "legalities" in making certain claims about the performance of their products, no two people drive their car the same, have the same set up etc etc etc. So as much as we all can sit here and debate service intervals and how Gates belt would or wouldn't perfrom on a stock or modded engine is all kind of well... useless. Just because a part is OEM doesn't mean that it was designed perfectly... doesn't mean there isn't room for improvement and doesn't mean its going to last longer, BUT the same goes for aftermarket companies as well. Nothing can really be said until a product is made, customer tested, and reviewed. That's really it IMO

[SmokeE30]

Proven parts? Are you trying to imply Gates doesn't make proven parts?

The Tensioner would be the same. Out of all the Racing Belts I installed on the VW and Audis I never used different tensioner's idlers, rollers etc.. I don't really see your reasoning as to why the tensioner would need to be different.

I'm not saying gates doesn't make quality products I have one of their belts on one of my e30s, I did not however use their tensioner I used a BMW tensioner because the aftermarket tensioners have been known to fail, the start to pull away from the backing plate and cause the belt to angle forward and contact the cover. That's why I was asking about who supplies the OEM tensioner, not that I think a racing belt would require a special tensioner just that I wouldn't risk a $30 belt to a aftermarket tensioner so certainly not a even more expensive belt. And their response to who is the OEM tensioner supplier beat around the bush quite a bit and I understand what they were saying but a simple not us would have sufficed if they are unsure. I say that knowing the tensioner in the gates kit i got was not the same as the BMW one had. I have no problem with gates belts at all just want to cover all the bases as there is nothing wrong with the OEM stuff even in racing applications I've never seen a OEM belt fail within its service interval granted most people seem to not take service intervals too seriously so perhaps a better belt would help in that aspect.

[Bimmer_man]

I'd love to get one. That would be a great product for the e30 community. I'd buy one for my next belt. If I gad nt already got all the parts for everything to do it I'd wait and get it but I've put it off for too long. Regardless I'd buy one to have for when I'm ready.

[dustyperez]

yes napa has online ordering, and im sayin if gates will stock it then we will prolly have overnight access to it. And to be honest if you guys wanna buy from me or something I could have the boss put a few in stock so we always have some on hand. and like i said maybe even offer a discount depending of course

[Ether-D]

I'd think anyone with a hotter than stock cam would want one of these. Also, even if it was $100, that's $100 spread out over four years. 50¢ a week. That's kinda worth it.

[IveGotIssues666]

im in as well! I work at NAPA and we carry gates products so I'm sure we could have access to these as well. I might even be up for giving the rev guys a discount

All the other links of suppliers I gave to him which hes passing on to the Reps in Sales, I guess they would have to get in touch with a sales rep from NAPA or the like I couldn't see all NAPAs carrying this type of Belt even a single store would be a rarity but worth a shot none the less

Does NAPA have online ordering?

[IveGotIssues666]

You should ask gates what's the deal with tensioners for these, would it be compatible with an OE tensioner? ( also who is the OE tensioner supplier?) or does a racing belt require a different tensioner from Gates? I only like to use OE timing belt stuff because it's a vital area in the m20 but the proven reliable OE parts are cheap and readibly available. So far I can see the racing belts advantage it a high heat environment like a turbo build but outside of that i want to know why use the racing belt over a standard gates replacement belt (if that is the OE belt. The only thing the OE belts suffer from is a short replacement interval, if the raving belt doesn't change that I'm not sure I'd would be inclined to spend 3 to 4 times as much on belt changes every couple years.

Proven parts? Are you trying to imply Gates doesn't make proven parts?

The Tensioner would be the same. Out of all the Racing Belts I installed on the VW and Audis I never used different tensioner's idlers, rollers etc.. I don't really see your reasoning as to why the tensioner would need to be different.

And not sure if you read this part

From above:

"The racing belt we will make is going to be a whole heap stronger than the OE belt. Better rubber, better cure process, better tensile cord, Kevlar reinforcement, the works. Static strength will be much increased. Even longevity should be increased, but that’s where I have to qualify my statement. Because this is not the OE belt, and we assume you guys are putting this belt on vehicles that have been modified, it is nearly impossible for me to give you a standard replacement interval. There are too many variables: modifications, different engine outputs, different uses/driving habits. Obviously a guy who leaves the car nearly stock and drives to church on Sunday is going to see more belt life than a guy who puts a huge blower on the engine, maybe a squirt of nitrous, a flux capacitor, a warp drive, etc etc.

Long story short, I like to say that the racing belt should last the normal OE replacement interval even after you modify the vehicle. Can it and will it go longer? Sure, its possible. But I can’t promise you something like that for the usual corporate liability reasons."

^

I understand their point of view it's not like they have an E30 laying around, gonna slap a good ole racing belt on it and drive it around for 10 years and see if its still good lol

Personally I've seen the OE belt go 6 years and counting with no issues I've also seen then fail prior to the 4 year mark

But All in all like the Rep is clearly stating its really more geared towards high HP and Torque applications

Honestly only time will tell regarding the service interval, I'll do my own testing with it as soon as I get one I'll slap it on my DD e30 as well as my turbo M20.

So basically if all you have is a stock M20 then cost wise yeah it might not be worth it, but we dont know that yet, l'n a DD it may last 8 years like I said only time will tell

I will ask the Rep regarding who the OE tensioner supplier is but basically this is what he responded to me about regarding the Contitech belt comment.

"
Also with the BMW (and other manufacturers) OE belts thing, just to clarify, it varies by vehicle platform and product. So we might be OE on the serpentine belt, but not the timing belt or vice versa. Or sometimes we might split the business, like we might get 60% of the volume and Conti or Dayco might get the rest. Then that can change over time. It can even change from OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) to OES (Original Equipment Service). So we might be OEM on the belt, but what you buy OES from a dealer could be Dayco. Kinda crazy, but what I like to point out to people is that because we have that strong OE relationship around the globe, we always have a seat at the table when these guys are designing their belt drive systems and our engineers get input. So we know what the specs are and how to build the belt, even if we aren’t OE on a particular application. But like you said, we are OE around the globe. With everyone from Fiat and Ford to Honda and Hyundai. We have more than 50 factories around the planet. We like to build in the same geographic areas that the vehicle construction and research takes place, but we also do lots of independent development work in our 6 tech centers around the globe. At our facility in Rochester Hills, Michigan, for example, we buy lot of dirt. VW gave us some OE business on a car in Europe and then brought that same car to India only to find out that the belts were failing. They wanted to know why the OE belt we sold them in Europe was exceeding the mileage interval but failing very quickly in India. The answer was that the dirt in India was different than in Europe. It was getting between the pulleys and the belts and creating a problem. So we had to buy dirt from India to test new belt constructions until we got it right.

As for building a timing belt, those things are actually pretty complex and the process is really cool. We have over 150 unique constructions for the aftermarket alone. It’s not just a piece of rubber, that’s for sure."

[dustyperez]

im in as well! I work at NAPA and we carry gates products so I'm sure we could have access to these as well. I might even be up for giving the rev guys a discount