Timing Belt Kit

mds141 · Post by **mds141** » Wed Jul 20, 2011 7:31 pm

What is the recommended manufacturer of OEM cam belt kits. Seen "Dayco" kits on ebay. IIRC these were the OEM suppliers. On ebay for £78.50 is this a reasonable price. Any other recommendations. Thanks. Mark.

RobC · Post by **RobC** » Wed Jul 20, 2011 10:43 pm

Does that include both tensioners?

Would seem a slightly high price if so, but maybe they're getting rarer. Back in the day (i.e. 2005) when I rebuilt my engine, 16v tensioners were £16 a pop and the belt was £25 from GSF, i.e. £57 in total.

Post by **Tim Leech** » Wed Jul 20, 2011 11:13 pm

Citroen DO still supply them but they are hellishly expensive, dayco belts are good im told.

Philip Chidlow · Post by **Philip Chidlow** » Wed Jul 20, 2011 11:16 pm

Or Gates.

Kitch · Post by **Kitch** » Wed Jul 20, 2011 11:17 pm

They\'re all pretty much the same. Dayco, Gates, Contitech, Goodyear, QH etc. I\'d just go for price, especially as all the components in a timing belt kit are usually made by different companies. The shelf age of the kit will have the biggest bearing on quality.

mds141 · Post by **mds141** » Thu Jul 21, 2011 10:39 pm

Cheers guys. Ordered a Dayco kit from Malcom Lockwood. Slightly cheaper than Ebay. BTW he sells 1 litre bttles of LHM+ for £4.20 + vat. Also for Tim he has a MK1 N/S door mirror in stock.

MULLEY · Post by **MULLEY** » Fri Jul 22, 2011 9:55 pm

QH, i've only ever heard bad things about this brand, everytime a cars belt has snapped its one of those

themildbunch · Post by **themildbunch** » Fri Jul 22, 2011 10:25 pm

+1 for Malcolm Lockwood -

I rang him up about coolant hoses and after he checks his own stock he'll ring around all his suppliers / ex and current main dealers etc to try to find the part you need and then get them to send it down...

Really helpful and friendly guy and much easier than ringing up a dozen miserable parts departments who don't sound interested in BX's.

Post by **Tim Leech** » Fri Jul 22, 2011 10:56 pm

mds141 wrote:Cheers guys. Ordered a Dayco kit from Malcom Lockwood. Slightly cheaper than Ebay. BTW he sells 1 litre bttles of LHM+ for £4.20 + vat. Also for Tim he has a MK1 N/S door mirror in stock.

Could you enquire about the mirror please Mark and let me know, cheers.

mds141 · Post by **mds141** » Sat Jul 23, 2011 4:39 am

Yep, no prob.

Kitch · Post by **Kitch** » Sat Jul 23, 2011 10:19 am

MULLEY wrote:QH, i've only ever heard bad things about this brand, everytime a cars belt has snapped its one of those

Must be the ink on the box then Mulley, they're made in the same factory as hundreds of other brands worldwide.

MULLEY · Post by **MULLEY** » Mon Jul 25, 2011 12:57 pm

No idea mate, just what i've heard from various people over the years. Perhaps this was a historic issue which is now no longer the case? Either way, it put me off buying one.

Post by **Defender110** » Tue Jul 26, 2011 2:36 pm

MULLEY wrote:No idea mate, just what i've heard from various people over the years. Perhaps this was a historic issue which is now no longer the case? Either way, it put me off buying one.

And me, I wouldn't put QH quality any where near Dayco / Gates etc. and their exhausts are made of paper steel IMHO pure cr-p! If they are made in the same factory there must be a quality production line and a second QH production line.

Post by **mat_fenwick** » Tue Jul 26, 2011 5:26 pm

I used to work at QH (left about 4 years ago) and didn't have any qualms about the quality of the stuff we produced on that site. A surprisingly large amount of stuff was bought in, and that could be really variable quality - we'd buy in a few samples and test them to make sure they met the vehicle manufacturer's specs and some of the stuff was truly shocking quality. The aim was obviously to manufacturer as much stuff as possible in house to maximise profit, keep a better control on quality, but for the low volume parts it wasn't worth tooling up for.

Kevan, you're right in what you're getting at in that there are different quality levels from the same supplier - for example we'd make aftermarket water pumps on exactly the same production line, with eth same people as the OE pumps, but the OE process would be more tighly monitored/controlled, and we couldn't (say) change the bearing for a cheaper supplier without lengthy customer approvals. The aftermarket pumps, so long as we had some kind of evidence to say that it met the minimum spec., you could use whatever components we wanted i.e. the cheapest.

Timing belts we were always very cautious with, as warranty claims were expensive. Didn't realise that QH sold exhausts, but they are a part with HUGE differences in quality/lifespan in my experience.

Post by **Defender110** » Wed Jul 27, 2011 12:32 pm

mat_fenwick wrote:Didn't realise that QH sold exhausts, but they are a part with HUGE differences in quality/lifespan in my experience.

Yes I totally agree and from experience I am now only willing to fit genuine or Walkers OE quality exhausts as they are made to a considerably better quality than the after market suppliers. I've seen after market truck exhausts fail in less than 12 months with Genuine lasting 10 years.
My mate used to work at an exhaust Manufacturers (which I'm sure was QH in Little Lever) and he confirmed that the OE production line used steel 3 x thicker than the budget line.