DSSA
Supporting Vendor
- 724
- 679
- Jul 26, 2002
-
Hatfield,
Pennsylvania
So, for the seemingly millionth time, I came across the 'ol "Should I run a Gates Timing Belt Kit?" posted on "The Facepage".
Having a few free minutes I decided to weigh in, and ended up writing a long, perhaps somewhat garbled response found below. Whether you agree with it or not, if you have long term experience with these cars and the various timing parts, feel free to chime in. I always like adding to the data.
I also thought it good time to introduce our new "Pick your own" timing belt kit options that we've added to the site, here: Do What'cha Like
After many years of people not wanting to be limited to one or two kits that a retailer offers, we figured it was time to have a way for you to pick and choose each option on your own....or not. You can get what you want and not what you don't.
Before I ramble on more, here's the response. Hopefully it will help someone decide what parts they want/need if they're on the fence:
This question is as almost as old as these cars are at this point--and you'll get varied responses.
After installing/working with 100s of these over the years, and probably selling well over 1000, I'll chime in (and add a little spam).
Historically, people stayed far away from the Gates parts when it came to timing parts. This stemmed mostly from people having failures with the belts and tensioners.
I wouldn't rate either one on par with the OEM units, but at the same time, OEM prices have gone up considerably, and more people have had success with the Gates setup. The question in this case, was it that the failure rate was higher in the past--or was it that the "signal" was just that much louder back in the day when you'd have a failure. Back then--one failed unit, whether it was installation error or actual part failure, would be tossed out on the forums, or even louder when it was just the DSM digest.
Now when you ask this question, you'll get a LOT more responses due to social media having a more wide-spread reach, adding in a lot more people have tried the Gates parts due to cost differences being more important to them.
I have access to a wide variety of these parts at any time I want to use them on my personal cars--most of them I can grab off of the stockroom shelf in moments, and at worst, I can *usually* have them the next day.
That said, when I'm doing my own cars, if it's something that's more of a slightly modded daily (example: 20G/FMIC/DSMLink setup) that really isn't being abused or pushed hard, I'll still use an OEM (DSM through Evo 8) belt, OEM tensioner, and Aisin Waterpump. The tensioner and idler pulleys , I used to use mainly OEM, and in a pinch Gates. Now I'll typically use the "Whitebox" pulleys we have from the companies who make them for Mitsubishi when we have them since they're the same thing, just not in a Mitsubishi box.
If it's something that is going to be pushed harder than the above example, I may upgrade to a Kevlar (HKS/Greddy/Evo 9/Gates Racing--in that order) belt, use OEM or "Whitebox" pulleys, and the Aisin pump.
I have a lot of customers who use the Gates parts with success, but I'm willing to pay more for the piece of mind.
We sell a lot of Gates water pumps, and I've heard very little in complaints on those. They are *cheap*, so I get it when a Mitsu OEM water pump is pushing over $175. That said, I have had a few customers over the years come in with cars that were overheating when we'd get excessively hot weather in the summer, and the first thing I'd check after the typical cooling system failure checks was the water pump. If they had a Gates pump, it would be replaced and usually solve the problem. The reason for this is Gates now only has *1* version of their pumps which uses the cast impeller wheel.
Gates used to have *2* versions--one with the OEM style impeller and one with the cast, disc style unit. Originally, you could just look on the box, and the ones made in Japan were the OEM type, the ones with the disc style was China. We used to be able to work with one warehouse and just return the China units. Then, the factory style impeller units ceased to exist, and they're now all the disc style, China made units. They still work, but if you live in a really hot climate, you *MAY* (although, chances are that you won't) experience heat issues as they don't flow the same. This brought us to the Aisin pumps that we now stock as well.
The Aisin units are the same, or at least nearly IDENTICAL (I say "nearly" as I haven't torn both these and the OEM units down side by side to check the seals) to the OEM units at a fraction of the cost. The Mitsubishi ones are built by Aisin, but until recently (1-2 years ago or so) the Aisin units just had an "Aisin" sticker on the throat of the pump as opposed to "Aisin" being cast on it like the Mitsubishi boxed units. Now, they're all coming in with "Aisin" being cast on them just like the Mitsubishi boxed units.
With all of the above said, we've just recently put a "Choose your own parts" Timing Belt kit option up on the site. This way, you can choose whatever *you* feel comfortable using or want. No more "Here's out kit--you only have a choice of which tensioner you want, etc." If you want all Gates parts with a Mitsubishi tensioner--you can have it that way. If you want a baller belt, your water pump *MUST* be in a Mitsubishi box, but a Gates tensioner for some reason--go for it. We can make suggestions, but we're not going to limit you in choices, because in the end, it's *your* car.
https://jnztuning.com/product/timing-belt-kit-dsm-gvr4-6-bolt-build-your-own/
Having a few free minutes I decided to weigh in, and ended up writing a long, perhaps somewhat garbled response found below. Whether you agree with it or not, if you have long term experience with these cars and the various timing parts, feel free to chime in. I always like adding to the data.
I also thought it good time to introduce our new "Pick your own" timing belt kit options that we've added to the site, here: Do What'cha Like
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After many years of people not wanting to be limited to one or two kits that a retailer offers, we figured it was time to have a way for you to pick and choose each option on your own....or not. You can get what you want and not what you don't.
Before I ramble on more, here's the response. Hopefully it will help someone decide what parts they want/need if they're on the fence:
This question is as almost as old as these cars are at this point--and you'll get varied responses.
After installing/working with 100s of these over the years, and probably selling well over 1000, I'll chime in (and add a little spam).
Historically, people stayed far away from the Gates parts when it came to timing parts. This stemmed mostly from people having failures with the belts and tensioners.
I wouldn't rate either one on par with the OEM units, but at the same time, OEM prices have gone up considerably, and more people have had success with the Gates setup. The question in this case, was it that the failure rate was higher in the past--or was it that the "signal" was just that much louder back in the day when you'd have a failure. Back then--one failed unit, whether it was installation error or actual part failure, would be tossed out on the forums, or even louder when it was just the DSM digest.
Now when you ask this question, you'll get a LOT more responses due to social media having a more wide-spread reach, adding in a lot more people have tried the Gates parts due to cost differences being more important to them.
I have access to a wide variety of these parts at any time I want to use them on my personal cars--most of them I can grab off of the stockroom shelf in moments, and at worst, I can *usually* have them the next day.
That said, when I'm doing my own cars, if it's something that's more of a slightly modded daily (example: 20G/FMIC/DSMLink setup) that really isn't being abused or pushed hard, I'll still use an OEM (DSM through Evo 8) belt, OEM tensioner, and Aisin Waterpump. The tensioner and idler pulleys , I used to use mainly OEM, and in a pinch Gates. Now I'll typically use the "Whitebox" pulleys we have from the companies who make them for Mitsubishi when we have them since they're the same thing, just not in a Mitsubishi box.
If it's something that is going to be pushed harder than the above example, I may upgrade to a Kevlar (HKS/Greddy/Evo 9/Gates Racing--in that order) belt, use OEM or "Whitebox" pulleys, and the Aisin pump.
I have a lot of customers who use the Gates parts with success, but I'm willing to pay more for the piece of mind.
We sell a lot of Gates water pumps, and I've heard very little in complaints on those. They are *cheap*, so I get it when a Mitsu OEM water pump is pushing over $175. That said, I have had a few customers over the years come in with cars that were overheating when we'd get excessively hot weather in the summer, and the first thing I'd check after the typical cooling system failure checks was the water pump. If they had a Gates pump, it would be replaced and usually solve the problem. The reason for this is Gates now only has *1* version of their pumps which uses the cast impeller wheel.
Gates used to have *2* versions--one with the OEM style impeller and one with the cast, disc style unit. Originally, you could just look on the box, and the ones made in Japan were the OEM type, the ones with the disc style was China. We used to be able to work with one warehouse and just return the China units. Then, the factory style impeller units ceased to exist, and they're now all the disc style, China made units. They still work, but if you live in a really hot climate, you *MAY* (although, chances are that you won't) experience heat issues as they don't flow the same. This brought us to the Aisin pumps that we now stock as well.
The Aisin units are the same, or at least nearly IDENTICAL (I say "nearly" as I haven't torn both these and the OEM units down side by side to check the seals) to the OEM units at a fraction of the cost. The Mitsubishi ones are built by Aisin, but until recently (1-2 years ago or so) the Aisin units just had an "Aisin" sticker on the throat of the pump as opposed to "Aisin" being cast on it like the Mitsubishi boxed units. Now, they're all coming in with "Aisin" being cast on them just like the Mitsubishi boxed units.
With all of the above said, we've just recently put a "Choose your own parts" Timing Belt kit option up on the site. This way, you can choose whatever *you* feel comfortable using or want. No more "Here's out kit--you only have a choice of which tensioner you want, etc." If you want all Gates parts with a Mitsubishi tensioner--you can have it that way. If you want a baller belt, your water pump *MUST* be in a Mitsubishi box, but a Gates tensioner for some reason--go for it. We can make suggestions, but we're not going to limit you in choices, because in the end, it's *your* car.
https://jnztuning.com/product/timing-belt-kit-dsm-gvr4-6-bolt-build-your-own/
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