Cambelt x ref

[BertBeck]

Does anyone know where I can get the cam belt kit?
Ive looked on Rock Auto and the Dayco 95169K1S kit is not listed and the alternatives dont seem to be in stock.
I see its a bit of a nightmare to do the job, is it something a regular garage can do or is it best to take it to a specialist?
Are there any special tools involved?

[TorqueHorse]

Hey BertBeck,
It looks like there is another kit (besides the Dayco) that is available at rockauto
https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.ph ... 65&jsn=465
I found it by looking under the '91 isuzu impulse turbocharged. I haven't used that one before; just letting you know though. FYI, I just installed a Dayco kit and I still had to file off the smallest amount off the aluminum housing of the waterpump to make it fit next to the oil pump. I guess I'm saying that nothing is perfect/guaranteed even for the kits that have been used by many.

As to special tools, there is great information in the wiki http://wikilec.com/view/Cambelt-changes
Really just modifications to your existing tools, or maybe the odd allen wrench that you need to sacrifice for the job. Plenty of folks on here have done the job themselves so I don't think you need a specialist, but having small fingers that can bend 360 degrees at one time is always a benefit .

[Saltire]

Does anyone know where I can get the cam belt kit?
Ive looked on Rock Auto and the Dayco 95169K1S kit is not listed and the alternatives dont seem to be in stock.
I see its a bit of a nightmare to do the job, is it something a regular garage can do or is it best to take it to a specialist?
Are there any special tools involved?

In my experience a regular garage with experience of working on classic cars is fine. I have one local garage which won’t look at the Elan and has told me so; they’re only interested in MoTs, oil changes, and easily replaceable modules. The engine chap I use, who’s now done a couple of cambelts for me, is a generalist with racing engine experience, so is sympathetic to the car. Try and find someone like that.

[Simon_P]

Try and find someone like that.

Yes, someone who is going to enjoy the challenge ans read the notes.

[BertBeck]

Cheers guys, my local garage are good and willing to take it on but I'm not sure they know what they're letting themselves in for as it's not something they're familiar with.
The Rock auto site is not the easiest to navigate, can't grumble with the prices tho.
My last belt change was only 22,000 miles ago but that was 2010. Why do they recommend changing every 5 years?

[Saltire]

Cheers guys, my local garage are good and willing to take it on but I'm not sure they know what they're letting themselves in for as it's not something they're familiar with.
The Rock auto site is not the easiest to navigate, can't grumble with the prices tho.
My last belt change was only 22,000 miles ago but that was 2010. Why do they recommend changing every 5 years?

When I bought my Elan and found my garage, I burned a copy of the workshop manual onto CD for them.They use it every time, and say it’s saved me quite a bit in labour charges

[Rambo]

Why do they recommend changing every 5 years?

Because if the cambelt goes it is likely to do a lot of damage to the engine and be expensive to repair. You will probably end up with bent valves, damaged pistons, damage to the cylinder head, block, even the turbo if there is lots of metal damage etc... Each car manufacturer has their own guidelines for changing, typically 5 years and 60k miles. OK, 5 years and 60k miles are arbitrary values a bit like your "5 a day" or "14 units" of alcohol and I have heard of the odd occasion where the cambelt has never been changed in 30 years but if you've ever seen inside an engine after the cambelt lets go....

Considering the good value of the parts from RockAuto (approx. a third of the prices here) it is worth doing the water pump, tensioner, idler and associated belts whilst doing the cambelt. Although not strictly essential I take the opportunity of doing these every 5 years along with the cambelt. Others maybe just do the cambelt and/or waterpump and don't bother with the idler, tensioner and other belts

RockAuto are a fantastic company - reliable, cheap, easy to deal with and once you have navigated their website that can seem a bit clunky...............

What more can I say ? Having organised a mini (Scottish) group buy of 6 complete sets and ordered a further 6 complete sets over 16 years I have never had one problem. I even had a personal call from them one time to say there might be a slight delay. That's proper service for you

[dapinky]

Like Mark says, it is worth doing for the peace of mind (and if you DIY, it's great value).

I advocate that the belt and water pump are changed at the same time (others will say that the pump should last longer - but they are cheap to buy)..... if there is no history of the idler and tensioner being changed from new, then I do those as well, otherwise, I tend to do them every 10/15 years not every 5 as they have a much longer service life (and with lower average mileage on these cars per year, you can probably change them every 30years or 100Kmiles and get away with it).....

Never had bad service from Rock Auto, and I've placed in excess of 25 orders with them over the years (my last parcel took less than 3 days from order to delivery - better than UK suppliers!)

[Simon_P]

As Rambo says except that it isn't arbitrary.
Automotive manufacturers use statistics to work out the "life" of components. So assuming that the owner maintains the car as per the manual, they are statistically confident that there will be almost no component failures. The belt ages with heat, mechanical and chemical degredation, so it has a life of 5 years or 60k miles after which failure becomes more likley. This assumes that you use the OEM specified part, which is likley to be high quality and has been tested, usually to distruction.

The pump and the bearings are not given a service "life" because although equally critical they will have shown little degredation and probably no failures in testing so they don't need changing because they are unlikely to fail if the service regime is followed.

OEM parts are usually better quality and consequently more expensive. So when you change them for an aftermarket component because it is cheap you are spending money on something which is more likely to fail.

The idea that the bearings and pump need changing because it would be a false economy not to, stems from the 70's and 80's when replacing components was seen as good insurance, the components being less reliable and statistical and quality methods used less.
Piece of mind in this context is an outdated emotional response.

[BertBeck]

I knew they needed changing every 60,000 just didnt know there was a time scale.
Mines well overdue then.
I had one go on a Capri once but the engine just cut out, no damage as it had fail safe.
Its a shame all cars dont have that protection but I guess it keeps the garages in work
Cheers for the tips

[Saltire]

I knew they needed changing every 60,000 just didnt know there was a time scale.
Mines well overdue then.
I had one go on a Capri once but the engine just cut out, no damage as it had fail safe.
Its a shame all cars dont have that protection but I guess it keeps the garages in work
Cheers for the tips

It depends on the inherent design of the engine. Some - like the Elan (Isuzu) engine - are described as ‘interference’ engines, because valves and pistons occupy the same space at different times. Such engines rely on the timing belt to keep the components apart. There are advantages for engine designers with an interference engine, because they can design for a higher compression ratio.

By contrast, non-interference engines have free space between the valves and pistons at all times but have a maximum theoretical compression ratio in each given application.