Timing belts

I always hated the older GM designs for their small block v-8s that
put the distributor behind the air filter. Cursed their design team
for every burn I got on that old El Camino.....

 

Hi,
Amber being in the middle of visible light spectrum, it is most visible
to human eyes.

 

Hi,
I see, pardon moi but sign of getting old. I wear glasses for night time
driving. I am on the wrong side of 60 too.

 

We had days this summer where the LOW was in excess of 85. Today's
high was 53, the low tonight will be around 30. 80s by next Tuesday.
And (paraies to multiple deities being said) rain Wed-Fri.

That knocking sound was the exhaust valve hitting the #2 piston. The
whoosing sound was your bank account being emptied. And the flushing
sound was all hope of getting that X-Box 360.

Yeah, like the rest of it!!!

For years, F500's used belts because chains were deemed "too
dangerous". Then 5 cars threw belts losing races in a weekend and one
driver was almost killed when a belt came off the car in front of him.
Now everybody uses chains. No chain failures in 4 years.
--
- dillon I am not invalid

When you wish upon a falling star, your dreams come true.
Unless it's really a meteorite hurtling to the Earth which
will destroy all life. Then you're pretty much hosed no
matter what you wish for. Unless it's death by meteor.

 

Chrysler 392 Hemis also had the distributer/magneto (depending on your
fuel choice) at the back. The 426 moved it to the front right. Which
seemed like a good idea until you put on blower on the sucker and had
to give the puppy a twist after the burnout. OTOH, standing behind
the zoomies didn't do much good, either.
--
- dillon I am not invalid

When you wish upon a falling star, your dreams come true.
Unless it's really a meteorite hurtling to the Earth which
will destroy all life. Then you're pretty much hosed no
matter what you wish for. Unless it's death by meteor.

 

Good thing I already got the PS3!

Yep.....one would have to wonder what would really be better....pros
and cons to both, I guess.....

 

Remember when the PS2 came out, and Sony was running ads for the PS10?

Pros of chains: They last considerably longer. They don't suffer as
much stretch. They're less likely to jump.

Cons: Wow, talk about price! When they fail, you wonder if that 16
guage chain guard is going to be enough. Wow, talk about price! And
did I say they're expensive.

But most people are now saying the life expectance drives the price
down. And most fail "slowly", as in you can see them going south.
Which loses less races.
--
- dillon I am not invalid

When you wish upon a falling star, your dreams come true.
Unless it's really a meteorite hurtling to the Earth which
will destroy all life. Then you're pretty much hosed no
matter what you wish for. Unless it's death by meteor.

 

er, no, the point is whether one flash of an amber IMMEDIATELY tells you
"turn signal" whereas it takes 2 or even 3 flashes of a red to give you
reliable differentiation between turn and brake. red may be ok on a 5mph
turnip truck on some farm track, but it's not good in 70mph nose-to-tail
freeway traffic. if the nhtsa had any balls, they'd publish stats on
freeway accidents involving red vs. amber signals - then we'd see why the
rest of the world /doesn't/ follow our example on this one.

 

that's a stretch. - because no change interval is specified doesn't mean
its not wearing out.

absolutely disagree. i've seen chains stretched so bad, the cam is 10
degrees out of sync with the crank. belts may break at extended mileage,
but they don't stretch.

again, disagree. if a belt jumps, it's some kind of harmonic or other
design issue in the belt run, not the fault of the belt itself.

 

Well, I can see that you have very strong views on this subject .... I'm
sure that anything that I say won't change the way you feel. No sence in
butting heads over it.

 

Anyone that I have known that has owned a motorcycle with a chain
drive was more then happy to go to either a shaft or belt drive
system, most for the reasons you point out.

 

My only experience with modern timing chains has been in the Toyota Prius.
The chains appear to be everything the supporters claim in those engines.
Although at least one 2001 Prius has exceeded 300K miles and several that I
know of have gone past 200K miles, there have been no reports anywhere of
having to replace the chain. Considering the valve timing is electronically
controlled that is quite an endorsement. I'm sure it is wearing out, but it
seems the rest of the car may be wearing out more quickly.

I would certainly agree that many timing chains even as recently as the '80s
exhibited a lot of wear and had short life expectancies, but that doesn't
seem to be the rule today.

Mike

 

maybe, but if so, i sure don't understand what would be different - i'm
not aware of any significant advances in chain design that would allow
this.

 

it's not a feeling thing, it's a logic and statistical thing. red rear
turn signals make no sense.