2 replies to this topic

[MiniMadAdy]

it seems that one of the clever people of here have pointed out i got a blet drive , are they any good and how often do ya need to replace the belt?

[fikus01]

they are quite good, just make sure it has a cover so any passing stones cant get caught up in the belt, that makes a tidy mess of everything, not sure how often they need to be changed but id use the good old fasiopned rule of - if u dont know when it was last changed, change it. minispares centre sell the belts, seals and kits.

[Dan]

Personally I think they are a terrible thing. The belt needs inspecting every 10,000 and replacing every 20,000 miles because it is so short. It is far more prone to skipping a tooth than a chain will ever be, it consumes more power than a chain does and because of the layout of the Mini engine bay it's a nightmare to replace every two years. On the plus side they remove one possible (and common) oil leak and are a little quieter than a well fitted duplex chain, but not much. Most major car manufacturers are now moving away from belts and back to fitting chains (of the high velocity quiet running type as available for the Mini from Kent Cams which don't stretch) because belts sap so much power and mean far more warranty claims and servicing costs.