Cosworth belt owners
 

Anyone with a Cosworth belt recently removed the cover to check the belt out after say 1k - 3k miles?

Whilst mine is off the road at present took at look with Dan at Surrey Subaru Specialists.

Was suprised to see the top layer BLUE clearing coming off and going on the idlers. So the idlers now look blue from the belt!!

Anyone know the reason for this or anything to worry about?


Steve

Possibly rubbing against the guides at the corners of the belt covers ?

I can't remember what the clearance is supposed to be but I had the same thing happen with a standard belt, loads of black rubber 'shavings' around the guides.

Adjusted the clearance and problem solved !

Good point matey. There is no debris/shavings just the blue off the belt? That's what is odd.

Steve

I had the same issue and it was rubbing on the guide that is located on the centre

The clearence between the belt and the guides should be 1mm +/- 0.5mm :thumb:

Think he is meaning the blue top coating on the belt, never used one so not sure if its normal, its not over tight is it?
Jay

Exactly my point. Belt looks ok etc.

Steve

I had this very problem with my Cosworth belt but it had gone a little further and the guide had started to rub through the belt, the outer rubber banding had started to lift/rip.

I think it's safe to say that my belt guide was out of adjustment and by the sounds of it so is yours. :)

I had the same issue with one of the pink STI belts . I had it replaced with a standard one while the engine was out for a rebuild .

Here's a picture of steves cosworth belt, as you can see both idlers & the tensioner are coated with blue from the belt, this is due to incorrect clearance on the cosworth deflect guide, a 1mm feeler gauge doesn't even fit between the guide & belt.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y39...n/ac397b1e.jpg

I would say thats not right, a normal belt would wear a little on the top, i.e the writing would come off, but it shouldn't leave a build up on the pulleys like that IMO. I would check the warranty of the belt. Also make sure none of the idlers are sticky/seizing causing them to drag on the belt.

If the guide is rubbing, this will be clear when you remove the guide and look underneath. Common error to be made when setting the clearance (it moves when torquing up the bolts).


Gates OEM belts are warrantied for the duration of the cambelt change interval (i.e 5yrs 60K ). I seem to recall somewhere that Cosworth belts are only warrantied for 12months (even though they are made by Gates and rebranded :cuckoo: ). I would appreciate if any belt Cosworth belt owners can posts the warranty details up that came with the belt to confirm this as retailers seem to go very quiet when I ask this.

Your correct it's not right, this is what i have found after taking Steve's car apart while it's in for some other work, needless to say it won't be going back together with that timing belt & idlers & tensioner as with a new belt it will cause that to run high due to the build up on them. I just managed to fit a 0.30mm feeler gauge between the belt & deflect plate so it's way to low.

Same issue i had with my old belt. Rubbing against the guide. Just check for slack aswell.

Thanks for posting the pic Dan.

Yeah bit of a ball ache. Bit gutted as its only been on since April.

On the case thanks to Dan's assistance car should be on the road again soon.

Steve