28 replies to this topic

[lotusk]

I am thinking of replacing the timing chain on my engine with a belt drive kit. Does anyone have any experience with these? Any disadvantages to using them on a road car, albeit a tuned 1380 which will see low mileage? And does anyone know of a kit which retains the breather?

Thanks!

Kieran

[Rosslin Racing]

get a good one ie not Sport, dont try putting the belt on with a screw driver as i have seen in the past, they great as Tony says.

[lotusk]

Cool. Can you point me in the direction of someone who sells them? The minispares kit seems to be unavailable...

[Rosslin Racing]

My last few I got from Minispeed and thats on a fullrace 1380 and i used one two drive the cam and MFI with no problems

Edited by Rosslin Racing, 09 April 2009 - 07:32 PM.

[Saxo-Fiesta-Mini]

http://www.aptfast.c..._Components.htm

http://www.minispeed...p;id=belt-drive

you dont need a breather as theres no oil going into the area as the plate blanks the oil ways off

this site has more info on the kits
https://www.minimani...63/ArticleV.cfm

hope that helps

[lotusk]

Thanks so much!

I do not have any other breathers on the engine so I guess I would need to add one somewhere? Flywheel housing I suppose? Do all kits blank off the oil ways?

[Ethel]

I run one, it's a nice bit of kit. No chain noise or stretch. I don't know if they are that much of an improvement over a duplex for the money however and there might be a bigger chance of a belt snapping than a chain. The only failure I've seen with timing gear was a Simplex chain that lost rollers then split the crank pulley in half, I did manage to put a big end through the side of a block while driving around on 10lbs of oil pressure on a belt drive A Series without the belt being bothered. Mine has a breather: just a short pipe without an oil separator, it's Minispares but an older pattern.

[lotusk]

Just out of interest, what do all those running race engines with a timing belt do for breathers?

It seems like a good way to spend £200... just trying to understand what else i'll have to do so that I can implement my latest crazy and expensive idea!

I'm sure I heard someone saying Minis were cheap when I first got involved...!

[Saxo-Fiesta-Mini]

they are but anything steered toward the racing sector is made bespoke and in small number hence increased prices look up the price of 4 pot kit for a saxo its near 700 pound unlike the mini which is £ 300

so really the common stuff cheapest

most racing minis have the crank breather, rocker breather and the ones with dry deck / sump have very complicated oil systems lol

myslef im just gonna go for duplex kit and make sure i get the timing BANG on then when i fit all the new components my 1293 should see 92 bhp as im gonna remove the fan do electrical and tempted to do an electrical water pump and fuel pump then get the max out of my lil aseries engine

[Nightrain]

If I was buying again think I'd look at the geared drive from swiftune, have the minispares set up and the only problem if you can call it that is, a slight weep from one of the seals so there is always a tiny amount of oil in the bottom of the cover

Attached Files

•  BeltDrive_2.jpg   11.6K   27 downloads

[Ethel]

Mine's like this but with an adjustable pulley,


You can see the breather pipe, I also like the split cover plate: means you can tinker with cam timing without removing the engine mounting plate 'n crank pulley. Glad this came up as I see all Minspares kits are NLA, guess I'd best stock up on belts and seals

[lotusk]

Just been looking on Swiftune, couldn't see a kit on their site...

What breathers are you running Nightrain?

[lotusk]

That looks ideal Ethel. It's a shame it's no longer available...

[Nightrain]

Haven't got a better pic, have to find the actual photo's but the breather is jst the same as seen in ethals pic.

The gear driven kit wasn't swiftune, it's actually Slark that do it:
http://www.slarkrace...amshaft_kit.htm

[Ethel]

That's interesting but I must be missing something - surely it turns the cam in the wrong direction?

The oil drain down from the tappets goes through the timing chain cover to lube the chain, so even with a belt you still need the oil passage behind it. I don't think there's any reason a breather is needed there, it was just a convenient place to put it when they designed out the tappet chest covers. It doesn't require any alteration of the engine casting and, as it's not in the main crankcase, there's likely to be a bit less oil flying round in the air to get sucked up. You might be able to modify a later belt kit if you really felt a need for a breather, the Minspares kit fits the usual 1/2" hose but the actual vent is tiny, I actually drilled mine out to 1/4" from something even smaller.