[Supras] Head Gasket Choice For N/A

[Christian, Skip]

Except for this belt, I have always used Toyota belts & changed them at
around 100K to 110K.  None, after removal, have even had any cracks.  I
guess I expected the Gates belt to be as good at the Toyota........
FYI - For the N/A, under normal service the TSRM does not recommend a
timing belt change.

-----Original Message-----
From: supraman88 [mailto:supraman88 at verizon.net] 
Sent: Friday, March 02, 2007 10:52
To: Christian, Skip; supras at supras.com
Subject: Re: [Supras] Head Gasket Choice For N/A

Christian, Skip wrote:
> 	Unfortunately, I used a "Gates" timing belt....... Because I was
in a 
> hurry...  It shredded itself at 82K miles and I ended up with bent 
> valves.
Unfortunately? I LOOK for Gates belts when changing belts in my Toyotas!
I had a Tercel (Yeah, I know there's a difference between a 1.5L 100HP
motor and a 7M-GE...) and replaced the belt with 80K on it, and it
looked NEW! Same thing with an '83 Tercel AWD Wagon I had a couple years
ago. I think for the aftermarket belts, the Gates are the best choice.

And, 80K is kind of pushing the envelope for any belt. I have gone 120K
with Toyota belts on my Corolla GTS...good thing it's a N-I engine!
(Basically the same as the 7M-GE minus 2 cylinders...).

And how did you trash the valves? Were you cranking or something? The
4A-GE and 7M-GE are variants of the same design, which is a N-I cleared
head. You must have had some serious valve float happening to trash the
valves on one of these Yamaha engines!