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6-Bolt Timing Tensioners

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DSSA

Supporting Vendor
724
677
Jul 26, 2002
Hatfield, Pennsylvania
Edit: 05/15/22 11:51AM ******THESE ARE NOW SOLD AND ARE ON BACK ORDER STATUS. WE WILL UPDATE THIS IF WE FIND A WAY TO OBTAIN MORE**********

I'm starting to feel like the Grim Reaper around here, so I'll start off with saying that they're *NOT* discontinued (yet).

That said, as is typical of Mitsubishi and almost every manufacturer who supplies parts to he U.S., they seemingly cannot figure out that this is the time of the year when parts are sold 2-3X the rate of the rest of the year, and don't carry enough inventory. This has happened time and time again over the 25+ years I've been involved in the market, and this year is no different.

I tried to stock us in *extra* of almost everything needed to keep these cars going, but being a small-ish business, I can't afford to take on $100's of thousands in extra inventory in a matter of a couple of months. Add to that the supply chain BS we've been dealing with over the last couple of years and here we are.

That said, I bought a HUGE (for us...and probably more than any other business I can think of in the U.S.) supply of 6-bolt timing belt hydraulic tensioners a couple of months back, thinking "well, at least we'll have enough to get us through the spring an summer".

Me: 0, Mitsu: XXX.

We've sold more 1G tensioners in the past 5 months than we have in the last year and 1/2. I was starting to see the bottom of the bin, so I put in another large order. I ended up getting...*3*.

I called Mitsu to ask what was going on, and they told me that I have 6 more coming, and then they will be out of stock in the U.S. for at least 120 days. We've wiped out their U.S. stock until basically this coming fall. I checked overseas with some contacts, and they told me that if I order some now, I may get 4-5 more, but that the supply in Japan is nil as well. Take that for what you will--Mitsu's estimates are basically a blindfolded person shooting at a dart board, but that's the only info I could get.

End point, if you need a tensioner now, or over the next 4 months, grab them while you can.

The good news: They're not discontinued (once again "yet"), so I'm not bumping them up to Mitsu's retail pricing like I do with disco'd parts. ($156.30)

The bad news: While I know that some of you all have multiple cars that use this tensioner, I'm going to limit it to one per order---and more than that and the order will be cancelled. I am also going to bump the pricing up to Mitsu's wholesale pricing. ($132.86) which still seems to be at or below our competitors' pricing.

You can buy them here: https://jnztuning.com/product/oem-6-bolt-tensioner/

Or, if you need to buy a complete timing belt kit and want to select your own parts, here: https://jnztuning.com/product/timing-belt-kit-dsm-gvr4-6-bolt-build-your-own/
 
Last edited:
After note: It's the weekend, and I have a full schedule. That said, I will try to keep on top of orders for these and cut off orders/mark them discontinued/update this thread once they're sold out.

If orders arrive overnight, or while I'm away from the ability to get to a computer surpass inventory to mark these on back order once they're sold out, we will refund the payment, or give you the option to be first in line for when more come in a couple of months from now.
 
This is gonna be a long night. 1/3 of them sold already. I'll stay here for another hour or two and then it's "game on" until tomorrow morning.

Thank you all that have placed orders!
 
Okay. Trying to head this off in plenty of time.

Stocking tensioners are now sold out.

The remaining orders from about 10 minutes ago through the morning (until we start contacting people and am able to mark them "back-ordered", and asking if we should keep them in line for new arrivals or refund payments). Will arrive to us and be shipped over the next week and 1/2. Most of which should arrive early next week.

The 18 stocking units are gone. The incoming units that we have been promised in the next week and 1/2 (verified shipments) are 30% gone. We will ship them in the "order received:". as they arrive over the next week and 1/2 (estimated arrival).

If orders come in before I wake up tomorrow, surpassing those units, I will change stocking status on the website and contact any people who ordered them afterwards.

We have 12 more incoming units. 2 are sold. 10 are remaining.
 
I'm starting to feel like the Grim Reaper around here, so I'll start off with saying that they're *NOT* discontinued (yet).

That said, as is typical of Mitsubishi and almost every manufacturer who supplies parts to he U.S., they seemingly cannot figure out that this is the time of the year when parts are sold 2-3X the rate of the rest of the year, and don't carry enough inventory. This has happened time and time again over the 25+ years I've been involved in the market, and this year is no different.

I tried to stock us in *extra* of almost everything needed to keep these cars going, but being a small-ish business, I can't afford to take on $100's of thousands in extra inventory in a matter of a couple of months. Add to that the supply chain BS we've been dealing with over the last couple of years and here we are.

That said, I bought a HUGE (for us...and probably more than any other business I can think of in the U.S.) supply of 6-bolt timing belt hydraulic tensioners a couple of months back, thinking "well, at least we'll have enough to get us through the spring an summer".

Me: 0, Mitsu: XXX.

We've sold more 1G tensioners in the past 5 months than we have in the last year and 1/2. I was starting to see the bottom of the bin, so I put in another large order. I ended up getting...*3*.

I called Mitsu to ask what was going on, and they told me that I have 6 more coming, and then they will be out of stock in the U.S. for at least 120 days. We've wiped out their U.S. stock until basically this coming fall. I checked overseas with some contacts, and they told me that if I order some now, I may get 4-5 more, but that the supply in Japan is nil as well. Take that for what you will--Mitsu's estimates are basically a blindfolded person shooting at a dart board, but that's the only info I could get.

End point, if you need a tensioner now, or over the next 4 months, grab them while you can.

The good news: They're not discontinued (once again "yet"), so I'm not bumping them up to Mitsu's retail pricing like I do with disco'd parts. ($156.30)

The bad news: While I know that some of you all have multiple cars that use this tensioner, I'm going to limit it to one per order---and more than that and the order will be cancelled. I am also going to bump the pricing up to Mitsu's wholesale pricing. ($132.86) which still seems to be at or below our competitors' pricing.

You can buy them here: https://jnztuning.com/product/oem-6-bolt-tensioner/

Or, if you need to buy a complete timing belt kit and want to select your own parts, here: https://jnztuning.com/product/timing-belt-kit-dsm-gvr4-6-bolt-build-your-own/
As depressing as your updates are a lot of the time, I have to say, they’re pretty entertaining reads. 😁
 
Is there any chance you could get in contact with the OEM manufacturer and have them work out a deal with you per say or maybe rock auto??
I've been trying to do that for well over 2 years at this point. It's roadblock after roadblock.

At this point, we've gotten OEM-provider water pumps at 1/3 the price (that's about 5 years ago), OEM tensioner and idler pulleys at 1/2 the price (or less---two years ago). The hydraulic tensioners and belts are the two that are the stickler here, and may well still be under contract between Mitsu and the manufacturer for exclusivity still.

That's the REALLY annoying part of all of this. I've spent hundreds of hours researching, making contacts, etc. for going down the route you're suggesting over the last several years, and often times, it just a waste.

Case in point: The yoke recall kits which were discontinued in the last year and 1/2. Mitsu disco'd them. We bought all of them that remained in Mitsu stock (well...got the last ones they had produced, and then pulled everything Chrysler had in their channels). I worked with a guy who was tight with Mopar, and they sent an inquiry to Mitsu saying "Hey. I get that you no longer want to buy and sell these....would you mind giving us the information so that we can order them directly from the manufacturer you've used to produce these?" To get stalemated.

I get it. If Mitsu has exclusivity on these parts (they spec'd them, made the relationship, bought $100K plus in batches, etc.) and they're no longer will to produce them, but want to retain the rights--that's their choice. They invested the R&D (the DSM ones were the strongest ones they made) and if they want to sit on it for a few more years--even while not buying/selling the parts--well, that's their right. We can be annoyed, or realize that they're passing up profits, but it's their choice.

Our choice can be to find other solutions, or put forth the R&D and time to have something else produced to fill the market gap. This has been the Chinese manufacturers way of doing business for decades. Unfortunately, they also seem to love cutting corners and producing blatant knock-offs (look for Chinese hydraulic tensioners with "533" stamped in the side, but often fail spectacularly--they're all over the place on Ebay, Amazon, etc.) as an example.

More importantly, for the survival of these cars, I'm hoping that the remaining people who are still willing to work on these transmissions get together, contact some gear production companies and produce gear sets (non-dog engagement) to keep these cars running.

My guess (after working to supply parts for these cars since the late '90's) is that this is going to be the biggest hurdle these cars will ever see.

It's hard to worry about turning a propeller shaft (what Mitsu calls the main driveshaft on these cars) if you don't have a working transmission to do so....
 
You've always put in the "HARD" work Josh and I just want you to know how much WE ALL APPRECIATE YOU! Phone tag that ends up a dead end is frustrating and takes up your time. Time isn't free and you can't get it back. You are doing a hell of a job trying to keep us going, THANK YOU!
 
You've always put in the "HARD" work Josh and I just want you to know how much WE ALL APPRECIATE YOU! Phone tag that ends up a dead end it frustrating and takes up your time. Time isn't free and you can't get it back. You are doing a hell of a job trying to keep us going, THANK YOU!
I appreciate the kind words, Marty!

This is my job. While I want to support these cars, it's a two way street. If I can keep us in parts (I say "us" as I need a lot of these parts as well for my own vehicles) it helps you guys *and* me. I may just be stubborn (or stupid..probably this), but I've stayed with these cars instead of branching out and slowly getting out of them once it became more of a pain in the butt to get the parts.

I'm liking that there's more appreciation for these cars now that they're becoming harder to find in good condition. I love the resto-mod aspect of where the market is going as opposed to them just being bought, chopped, abused then scrapped. I still love to see people pushing the platform, but I prefer the people who build them into clean, comfortable streetable cars that can be enjoyed as opposed to just towing them to the track.

I'm getting somewhat anxious to get upgraded power ran to our upper building on the property and breaking out the equipment left from JNZ Finishing. I want to start offering rebuilt/restored parts as well to increase parts options.
 
As others have said, and probably more that have not said, we absolutely appreciate what you're putting in to keep these cars going. It's definately helping me in this Talon restore I have going on. In addition, I also have all the main components required to do a OEM+ build that I am aching to put together, but won't be able to for at least a couple years. and when the time comes to get the maintenance parts for that, I can only hope there will still be sources. I've highly considered just spending the money now while certain parts are still known available
 
I appreciate the kind words, Marty!

This is my job. While I want to support these cars, it's a two way street. If I can keep us in parts (I say "us" as I need a lot of these parts as well for my own vehicles) it helps you guys *and* me. I may just be stubborn (or stupid..probably this), but I've stayed with these cars instead of branching out and slowly getting out of them once it became more of a pain in the butt to get the parts.

I'm liking that there's more appreciation for these cars now that they're becoming harder to find in good condition. I love the resto-mod aspect of where the market is going as opposed to them just being bought, chopped, abused then scrapped. I still love to see people pushing the platform, but I prefer the people who build them into clean, comfortable streetable cars that can be enjoyed as opposed to just towing them to the track.

I'm getting somewhat anxious to get upgraded power ran to our upper building on the property and breaking out the equipment left from JNZ Finishing. I want to start offering rebuilt/restored parts as well to increase parts options.
Appreciate your support of these cars and the community. I'm new to the car and community, but both are great and I'm really enjoying it and appreciate your hard work with the supply chain helps keep us all on the road which is always a challenge with these cars being this age by now. Our cars are starting to reach the age when certain trim pieces are finally biting the dust and unfortunately they are no longer available (window exterior belt molding, side mirror interior bezels and toggle mount, etc.) and I don't know if that is an opportunity for anyone given the demand, but I know I'd be in line to purchase some of that stuff if it was available to keep my car looking its best and not looking like I'm too poor to drive anything but an old car that looks like it is falling apart! Like that I was able to get some hard to find stuff not available anywhere else from you. Thanks!
 
ROFL MY inventory spreadsheet runs into the 500's as far as individual parts go. I finally had to just start taking box by box and opening them and writing down everything in them, then thru that onto an Excel spreadsheet for sorting and alphabetizing and the total quantity.
 
UPDATE: All of the people who were in the order for the available units have now been sent tracking and the final 10 are going out today.

For those of you who placed orders on the reserve list (MW, WC, Etc.) I'm still digging and hopeful that one of the tentacles I have out there will produce a few additional units soon.

Thanks again to all, it's highly appreciated!

Josh
 
ROFL MY inventory spreadsheet runs into the 500's as far as individual parts go. I finally had to just start taking box by box and opening them and writing down everything in them, then thru that onto an Excel spreadsheet for sorting and alphabetizing and the total quantity.
I haven't counted, but it's getting up there in hundred for me too. May have to start using a spreadsheet like you are doing. Right now the boxes are marked with all the parts in them, but that's about it.
 
Not when it comes to knowledge and good advice. I see you all over the forum. 👍 I guess I'm just a pack rat by nature! :D It did pay for for me this past fall when my thermostat went and having one on hand got me right back on the road instead of waiting for days for one to arrive by mail since no one stocks parts locally for these cars.
 
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