This should be a no brainer really, Nissan oem all the way for something so important to the running of the engine. You can buy blueprint or Gates, but for peace of mind i would use OEM.

 

The reason for this little mention or warning, i went over to a fellow zedders house to fit a new timing belt, but he bought this one http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/NISSAN-300ZX-3-0-TWIN-TURBO-90-94-ENGINE-TIMING-BELT-/160508157955?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item255f082003

 

It looked like had had been fitted to a car before with the way it kinked in the areas where the tensioners are when you held it up and it was described as brand new.

The other main flaw for me and the reason i refused to fit it, there were no timing marks at all on the belt. Now on some vehicles its not the end of the world, but as those who know will tell you the VG engine has 5 timing points and the belt should also have 5 timing marks to make fitting more precise, i felt it didnt matter how many teeth you try and count to get it on right, there was no point as there were no marks for a starting point.

 

Luckily the belt already on the zed looked in really good condition and you could still see the timing mark lines, on the top of the belt, which would normally be worn away by the tensioners with many miles/years of use.

So i felt confident that the belt hadnt been on that long, if we had a Nissan OEM belt to hand, then would have changed it as it would be pointless not too.

So anyone thinking of a new cambelt change, use Nissan OEM, do not buy from the seller listed above.

 

A final note, he is selling it anyway, so will advise and show pics to the new owner. Had he been keeping it, then it would be replaced after purchasing the correct one.

 

Cheers

Graham

Edited May 30, 201114 yr by groover

me personally wouldnt trust any timing belt on a car even if the owner said it has been changed. every car i have owned i have always replaced the timing belt for my own piece of mind, unfortunatly my z one has had to be changed twice after the first time i mistaken handed over my money toi somebody who only did half a job and it cost me twice.. never again im gonna personally do every one of my timing belts!

I totally agree with you Gaz, i changed mine when i got it and ive just put a new one on my spare engine thats going in soon. Im sure the new owner of his zed will no doubt also change it for peace of mind.

Graham is it a pain in the backside to change?? reason being i have a brand new OEM belt still in packet that Uno gave me. The zed has only done 15k since the last belt changed by zedworld, but it was 3 years ago.

i know its recommended to change at 60k intervals, but what about in a time / years basis

Graham is it a pain in the backside to change?? reason being i have a brand new OEM belt still in packet that Uno gave me. The zed has only done 15k since the last belt changed by zedworld, but it was 3 years ago.

i know its recommended to change at 60k intervals, but what about in a time / years basis

 

Stu, I had a similar dilemma, last year.

 

The car had done under 10k since it's last cam belt change, but was due a new one anyway due to the years. I had Silverbullet change it in the end along with a service etc.. as I wasn't prepared to take the risk. Although I had the standard photos from zedworld when it was last changed at the end of the day it's only a toothed rubber belt and the cost for a belt change isn't as bad as a good new engine.

 

Difficult decision as no one want to waste money these days

Graham is it a pain in the backside to change?? reason being i have a brand new OEM belt still in packet that Uno gave me. The zed has only done 15k since the last belt changed by zedworld, but it was 3 years ago.

i know its recommended to change at 60k intervals, but what about in a time / years basis

 

Hi Mate, not too bad, just time consuming. Once youve got the rad out the way and intake pipes, water pipes off etc... you have more room to work.

Having the right tools is a plus and will save time/damage.

Getting the crank pulley off would be a pain without the right puller, using several write ups that are around and following tips you will have no problems, especially if you are mechanically minded.

 

Doing it with the engine out is so much easier, but you will be surprised with the room you have to work with when the rad etc is out of the way.

I've just done half the job today with Mikey Beans help (To be fair he did a lot of the work :D) and let me tell you it's not that hard, just time consuming and LOTS to take off to get to the belt. Things have to come off in a certain order, bolts are hard to get at on some parts etc. But generally it didn't take us that long to do, the hardest part as Graham has said, is taking the crank pulley off without anything but a screw driver and our hands, we took it in turns to wiggle it :D

 

Any idea what a new belt kit is brand new from Nissan? Cos I priced up the blueprint parts, including tensioners the other day and it came to over £160!!!!! I just paid someone else £140 to do the cam belt, including parts on the VR4 (Sideways engine, won't touch em) a few days ago!

 

I will be replacing my cam belt in the next few days/week time permitting so will be glad to give some feedback on how it went.

MJP for the cambelt £52.20 inc vat and postage, ask him about the tensioners, but they are about £40 odd quid each.

Will his be OEM Nissan?

Awesome, well I have to ring him tomorrow for sills etc anyway, so looks like a large spend with him this month :S

Yes Mike is OEM all the way, he has managed to locate some patent parts for the zed like O2 sensors, but things like cambelt, defo Nissan.

Like any one on here i look for a cheap deal on most things, but when it comes to the engine, its not worth the risk of saving a few quid in the short term only to bite you in the ass long term.

Yeah I completely agree, I wouldn't normally worry about a cam belt from my local Jap parts dealer which was brand new and genuine BluePrint or Gates I don't think, as they are both very renowned belt makers, I think the Nissan OEM one is likely Gates made anyway, but I certainly wouldn't ever buy anything like that off Ebay.

My car originally had a blueprint belt on, had no issues, but i remembered one of JeffTT's post doing a comparison to different belts and i think blueprint might have been one that is almost a tooth or 2 out compared to the Nissan belt.

ouch, well that isn't good definitely, that isn't even a replacement belt if there are teeth missing!

Lol, not teeth missing, the timing marks were nearly a tooth or 2 out in comparison.

ah right, thought you meant it literally had 2 less teeth than it should have. I suppose that could have just been a manufacturing fault, but yeah, I wouldn't be impressed if I bought one, got it all fitted and the timing marks wouldn't meet up!

found the thread lol

http://www.300zx.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=130325&highlight=timing+belt+comparison

Very interesting thread, well considering the belt I WAS going to buy would have been blueprint, I think MJP will be getting the business instead! I do reckon that's a Gates belt though. Also interesting to see just how many people were challenging what he was saying and defending belt manufacturers that weren't even mentioned. Shame he never did the Nissan vs Nissan comparison on the timing marks though, or a Gates vs Nissan one would have been good. Cheers for the linky Graham, really has made me change my mind about buying the BluePrint belt!