I've been using mitsuboshi belts on all my cars, they actually make OEM belts for certain brands (honda, i think subie) and they are super cheap.

I think based on what sav said, i'll rock dat blue belt on my new semi-built bottom end.

 

Spoke to a spec miata builder who does north of 500 engines a year this week... blue is a nice color...

 

Whats wrong with the stock Gates belt? Any failures every reported south of 60k?

 

yep, purdy much.
It's easy to get the the tension a little too much.

 

LOL at adjustable cam gears, carefully set to 0.

 

Never heard of one snapping first hand. Even used one for a charity rallycross event that had coolant on it when we couldn't find anything the night before on the beater car

 

yeah, sorry, shouldn't have put an older pic in the first place. That was the vodka and oj talking LOL.

 

I've had two timing belts get destroyed on me on a sketchy as hell motor that I bought. One of them, an oil pump bolt backed itself out and got ejected through the valve cover, caused the timing belt to jump a few teeth on either cam. It did come out in one piece, though, just barely. Everything looked OK, so I replaced the oil pump bolt and bought a Bando from NAPA, did a track day, and put 5k miles on it before it completely broke when turning into a shopping center.

Sooooooo, I bought a Mazda2 and parked the car for a year while waiting to graduate college, start a new job, and acquire parts. I put a blue Gates on my VVT motor.

 

I had an OE belt come apart after 10 hours on the 350whp powerplant in Theseus. No high revs, just power. That was enough to scare me off OEM belts for good.

 

Blue because I take the bait of "betterness" when I have to use a gear-puller to get my crank pulley off.

 

Ive only done one timing job but i have the standard gates and its been quite alright. Don't see a need for a "racing" timing belt lol.

 

Likewise, especially since these engines (1.6 or 1.8) are non-interference. I could only justify a fancy-***-belt if the head assembly has been modified to a point where it is now an interference engine.

-Zach

 

With my hundreds of hours of beating the snot out of Miatas on/off track for 10 years. I have never had a belt break. I won't mention names but a buddy is running a used one he took off my garage wall on his turbo track car lol. Honestly most timing belts I pull off are in good condition. I basically change the timing belt because I want to replace the cam and crank seals, and the water pump.

 

On my completely stock Miata I bought ALL Gates performance and/or regular gates parts (when performance wasn't available) for every single part required in a timing belt change including water pump etc.

The reason I did this was so I could beat on the car and drive aggressively without feeling guilty or like I was gonna break something. It worked fine however buying everything gates is a lot more expensive than a $60 timing belt kit.

Also no loud noises or squealing on start up

 

I found the blue belt for only $35 on ebay which is only about $10 more than I could find a decent non racing belt for. At this low price there seemed to be very little reason not to try the blue belt. Heopefully it will be coming in today so I can replace all the front seals and install the belt this weekend. The tensioners and waterpump were replaced 10-15k ago so I am just keeping them.

How long are you guys running the racing belts for before replacing them (mainly street use)?

 

I believe in Sir Hustler's build thread he stated he was replacing them every season on the Green Glory Hole. Most found this interval to be excessive and dispensed appropriate criticism but I'm not sure if this has changed his opinion.

On a non interference motor on the street? I plan to run my blue until it breaks, if I notice it looks shaggy, if I manage to puke oil on it, or if I manage to make it another 60k before something lets go.

 

Hmm. that's ridiculously cheap. Are you sure it's part #T179RB and not just an accessory belt instead or that it's indeed a legit Gates belt?

If it is legit, you can run that thing till the cows come home at the power levels you're talking about.

 

Its ligit part #T179RB it came in today. I was planning on running it for at least 50k. I hope to swap to a NB head before then and i will change the belt at that time if needed.

 

Damn. That's a heck of a price then if it was new. Or was it used?

 

Its new in box. Why would I buy a used one, lol. The guy had 10 listed and I grabbed the last one. I will let you guys know if he relists some more.