Porsche Enthusiasts Club Forum

I've booked the car in for the cam belt to be done. I'm sourcing the parts myself as it may be beneficial to me using TIPEC discounts. However I am confused about how much I should be buying. According to the Porscheshop 'kit' there are two belts and four rollers (by the way their kit is more expensive than buying everything individually). According to GSF there are two belts and five rollers.

What I think I need:

Cam belt
Cam tensioner
Cam idler
Balance shaft belt
Balance tensioner
balance idler

That's what you get in the 'kit', but GSF suggests that there are upper and lower cam tensioners.

Any advice please?

And once again, looking around is saving considerable amounts of money!

Thank you

Hi

About providing parts for a garage to use....

Having owned garages.....the problem you will have is what happens if say that Cambelt snaps one week after its fitted

If it takes out the valves or head, the garage has every right to say...it was the cambelt YOU supplied that caused the major damage....

In the case of a major damage item like a cambelt, I would let the garage provide it and make a profit as then if it goes you are covered totally...

Just my 2ps worth...

All the best Brett

John just checked PET it is two per belt (cambelt & balance belt).
And shock horror I'd agree with Brett as regards buying bits yourself. Let them source the lot. You may also need seals & possibly top hats as well & if you buy them up front it is getting very expensive, especially if they are not needed!
When did your car last have a water pump? Recommendation is everyother cambelt.

same here let them supply the parts

Agree with Jim & Brett. But check the garage will warrant the engine if the belt breaks within 6 months. They don't all as a % of belts fail & some garages say thats your tough luck! The good ones will rebuild your engine but theres not so many of those..............

I agree with the rest of the lads.

and me !!!

Thank you for your comments, and I agree and would normally give the same advice to anybody who asked me about this sort of thing. However Stewart has looked after our cars for over eleven years now, is a good personal friend, and is 'honest as the day's long'. We have agreed that I will do research of Porscheshop, Euro Car Parts and GSF. He will research Andrew Page and ECP as they are his main suppliers of parts. Stewart informs me that the belt manufacturer will not take responsibility if the whole 'kit' (as listed in the first post) is not renewed at the same time as the cambelt. This is Stewart's garage http://www.autotech-garage.co.uk/index.php?id=home and if you're within striking distance he's definitely worth knowing. It's thirty miles from here. I drop off the car and if the weather's good I cycle home along the canals, and cycle back the next day to collect the car - the trip only takes two hours. If the weather's bad he usually offers to lend me his car.

I have priced up all the parts, and guess who's the most expensive... all prices include TIPEC discount and postage, I haven't yet asked ECP or GSF for a discount, but they normally give it if I ask.

ECP £166.19, GSF £175.64, Porscheshop £226.32 - £60 more than ECP, and going by the poor feedback on this forum, hardly justifiable.

Porscheshop are the most expensive with every part, including postage, so if I take the best prices from the other two I get the (pre asking for discount) total down to £155.47.

Car's booked in next Monday morning, so I'll update on actual cost after it's done. Check Stewart's garage out, I cannot recommend him enough. I put loads of my clients on to him, especially the vulnerable single women who are most likely to get ripped off elsewhere.

Treat others how you would like to be treated yourself! Also I would never recommend anybody who I thought would let me down.

Is it worth getting a quote from the OPC? You never know?


Adam

John I don't see Bert at Berlyn there, I use him for quite a few bits as he knows what he is talking about. The other one I've heard good things about is Frazerpart but I have never used them.

I always note your advice Jim, and have therefore tried Bert's website on a number of occaisions. Unfortunately I find it to be a nightmare to get around and everything just seems to be listed in no particular order. The few prices I could find in the past were more than ECP or GSF, and there's probably postage too. In the end I just got fed up and don't bother anymore. Maybe you could have a word with him to make his site more user friendly. Then again, maybe it's just me!!

I have just got the price parts from Porsche OPC at Wilmslow Adam.... £423.96 including VAT.

I quite agree Berts site is far from clear! I normally pick up the phone & ask TBH. The advantage of Bert is he knows the cars very well & knows what bits you need whereas the guy at ECP or GSF won't know it any different to a Renault or a BMW...
Bert has got expensive recently I've noticed that.

Is your car an S2? If so there are 5 rollers/tensioners not 4.

I have always found ECP cheapest. Promax are also very good with service second to none - there website shows a price of £205.

Rich

Richy, that was down to me PET is far from clear on how many!

It's a 1991 S2 in the very slow Cobalt Blue colour.

According to Porscheshop there's four rollers because that's all you get in their kit. Clark's Garage diagrams show four rollers, ECP say four rollers, I've looked and I'm sure the PET shows four rollers, however GSF implies there are five. We'll have to wait and see when it's stripped, buy four and hope for the best . If there's a fifth roller we'll just throw it away and do without. I mean how many times have you put Ikea furniture together and been left with extra screws or nuts - and the thing hasn't fallen apart. Who's going to miss an odd roller?

The computer based system Stewart (the mechanic) uses shows the diagram with three belts on it , now we know it only has two, so some of these diagrams on the internet are basically wrong! It's really quite frustrating as some diagrams show the balance shafts being installed in the opposite way to other diagrams, i.e. markers facing each other v markers both pointing the same way. I was hoping that the 1600 / 3200 rpm vibration problem will also be resolved when the balance shaft belt is replaced and the shafts set correctly - even though JZ Machtech guaranteed that they could not have possibly been set up the wrong way round the last time the belts were changed.

Everything will be revealed on Monday.