good timing belt/head gasket for the buck?

[spinsirs]

how cheap can i go on a timing belt without breaking it again. could it be the belt tension-ers fault? or something else besides junky belt? the belt didnt feel to loose or tight this morning before it broke. what head gasket should i get with price in good consideration?

i bought the 1990 gsx a couple weeks ago. had new timing belt on it, no signs of wear, just did a compression check this morning and it had 155-160 across all four. i was driving it fairly hard and SNAP! belt broke!

im looking at getting a head off ebay and throwing my cams into it. (im sure my valves are bent after breaking the timing belt). also going to get new belt tension-er. what about head gaskets?

 

[Hult250R]

As far as timing belt parts I always use factory Mitsu. JNZ or one of the other vendors on here are a good place to start. Factory tensioner as well.

Dont skimp on the important parts

 

[BogusSVO]

Well get the head off and see what has happened.

Why buy another head, rather than getting yours rebuilt?

 

[spooln4fun]

I got my gates timing belt with all 3 pulleys and a balance shaft from stm fOr 80$ I haven't bought a tensioner yet but they seem to run 100$ every where I've checked. Head gasket you could run a felpro one if you don't plan on doing anything moderately to it. They run 60 ish I believe plus another 30 for new head bolts from them.

 

[TSITurbo95]

I would go Mitsu, Gates or HKS. Don't go with autozone/advance belts. Also head gasket, I would go with a oem composite. As for the head, take it off and send it to one of the venders here.

 

[white92talontsi]

FYI, Oreillys sells a gates timing belt for around 35 bucks and it is the exact same belt as the OEM mitsu belt.

Also a good set of ARP headstuds and an OEM composite gasket will take you a long way.

 

[DSMBanditFZ6]

I have heard great things about gates. I had one on mine untill the crank ate it. I will be putting another on it at reuse the tensioner it only has 30 miles on it . A composite headgssket, and arp head bolts. Don't reuse the old ones...,.

You might as well just have your head rebuilt while everything is off and you can see if it caused any damage to your pistons.

I don't want to get off topic, but being the retard I am. When I took the head off I thought the big allen/torque bolts in the middle also held the hea d to the motor but they are only about a half inch long. Did I mess something up and are those important? I only took one out, noticed it did not really do anything and that's it.

Thanks

 

[BogusSVO]

The big allen head bolts as you say, they are important, put some sealant on the threads and install it.

I doubt you messed anything up, they are water plugs, like a freeze plug.

 

[rommel rojasgsx]

Wish i had a picture of my gates belt after 2k miles. Stripped a good 5-6 inches. As in no teeth . So 3 letters OEM.

 

[99gst_racer]

As far as a head gasket and timing belt go, OEM is the best bang for the buck for quality and reliability. You should be able to pick up both for around $110.

 

[ed1380]

Topline timing belt. Its made by contitech, and they make oem timing belts for Audi.

Felpro composite headgasket. $30 and people have ran 30lbs of boost with them

 

[LiquidX]

Stick with OEM for the belt, pulleys, and tensioner. I would use either OEM or Felpro for the HG.

Make sure you get a full timing kit and consider a waterpump while you are at it.

 

[1457gvr4]

Another vote for OEM. Dont cheap out.

 

[jpmxrider489]

Stick with oem belt. I believe the oem belts have metal fibers in it.

 

[spinsirs]

cool, thanks for the input! ill definatly go oem on belt and felpro head gasket. looks like i can get a working head on ebay for 180 shipped vs taking mine off and sending in for 250 plus shipping. probably can sell my old head for 80.

 

[dalesmitsu]

checkout partsdinosaur.com he has a package deal, on timing components. Besides the mighty 4g63 they also carry 420a and other makes models.

 

[jakelandry]

+1 for the felpro composite. Theyre 35 bucks and mine has seen 28 psi without failure. Theyve been known to be good for 30+psi. I know people will gasp over this but i run a goodyear gatorback timing belt. I plan to change it asap, however ive put 30k on it and it shown no wear whatsoever.

 

[bryanwheat]

I've installed nothing but gates belts for the past 15 years on cars, and have yet to have a single failure with one. I assure anyone that if you install it correctly with the correct tension and no oil leaks that it will last well past 60k miles. For head gaskets, i'd pick up the felpro permatorque composite. Having the tension set properly is crucial.

 

[Honto]

OEM is the only way to go! With the exception of a gates timing belt.

 

[1Gina2G]

I spent the extra money for a Kevlar belt, heard they're the strongest.