Das Beast: My E30 track / street build

[zaq123]

belt doesnt fit into the teeth very nice

didn't know they had such issues. I guess that would be the obvious one to see

[digger]

Unfortunately I have one of these, I also find the eBay/China ones are the same.

I am currently running an eBay one and will be curious when I change out the head whether it beds itself in or not... hopefully I can get the Nuke changed out before I change the head out.

contact nuke they will send a good one (the rim portion) without question. send them a pic

[digger]

There’s a technique i use:

• lock the tension fully retracted;
• you put belt on the crank gear first making sure it is fully seated properly;
• wrap tension side around the intermediate gear;
• place non tension side over the idler;
• pull hard on tension side and get the belt on the first few mm of the cam gear around the full circumference that is engaged and then slide it over.

I’ve never had an issue doing this.

[whodwho]

belt doesnt fit into the teeth very nice

Unfortunately I have one of these, I also find the eBay/China ones are the same.

I am currently running an eBay one and will be curious when I change out the head whether it beds itself in or not... hopefully I can get the Nuke changed out before I change the head out.

[Lugnuts]

I've only installed a couple of timing belts, and from memory it was hard work getting them on - one time a Conti, the other time a Genuine. The first time with the engine out I had to push on the tensioner with a socket extension and lock it in the fully compressed position. It didn't exactly "slip on" - required some coercing.

Here's a snap of mine with stock thickness HG. The tensioner bolt is in a similar position to yours, so maybe it's OK?

[digger]

whaaat? need more info...how one can check that the gear is the good one?

belt doesnt fit into the teeth very nice

[zaq123]

its not one of dodgey nuke gears with teeth that are wrong is it?

whaaat? need more info...how one can check that the gear is the good one?

[digger]

its not one of dodgey nuke gears with teeth that are wrong is it?

you are also better of keeping the rotor adapter as it works to spread load of the fastener to the alloy cam gear

[zaq123]

It's so tight we can barely get the belt over the tensioner in fully locked back position. Not way for the tensioner to ever move. So yeah, definitely feels wrong.

We're running a 0.120" MLS head gasket vs the 0.070" stock. I guess the extra 0.050" might make the belt tighter, but that's only 1.27 mm. Pretty damn small difference.

Was it the same belt? Picture shows that the tensioner adjustment was +/- in the middle of its range. If the same exact belt and other components...possible installation error?

[zaq123]

as a side note, I don't know if blue belt is much stronger vs oem spec..I tested them both , Continental and blue one....both of them have the same stretch when the engine is turning.... stretch nets about 2 degrees of retarded cam timing.

I went with the blue belt as it looks like of much better quality vs Chinese made continental. Although I'm sure Conti belt is up to par as well

[dvallis]

It's so tight we can barely get the belt over the tensioner in fully locked back position. No way for the tensioner to ever move. So yeah, definitely feels wrong.

We're running a 0.120" MLS head gasket vs the 0.070" stock. I guess the extra 0.050" might make the belt tighter, but that's only 1.27 mm. Pretty damn small difference. Same head gasket as in the photo below.

#_I_HATE_PHOTOBUCKET

Here's that pic

[zaq123]

Kevlar timing belt went on in five seconds flat. Timing marks lined up correctly this time. :devil: Crank turned with one finger on the breaker bar. Nice!

post 1339 has you struggling with the belt.

old post 308 (attached) got you a 5 sec install. I'd imaging it was the exactly same belt, no?
Photobucket pics are all fuzzy......... Maybe installation error this time? got post 308 pic in a better quality?

[digger]

yeah that doesnt sound right. it should slip on like stock. you arent running a real thick gasket are you?

normally the spring is preinstalled and the tensior locked off in the full retracted position and then released when the belt is on.

[dvallis]

No, just a stock tensioner. But the damn belt is so tight that the tensioner spring won't even fit in there. Belt is basically bar tight against the gears and tensioner without spring. Can't be good. Maybe we got a bad belt ... don't know. I ordered a stock belt and will measure it against the Kevlar one.

[digger]

yeah i've been using a fuzzless blue belt last few thousand miles. you haven't use a povo spec tensioner have you ?