Re: FIAT cam belt design

[George Graves <gmgraves@domain.elided>]

I don't think it was the 124. The DOHC 124 engine came out with the 
introduction of the 124 Spider and Coupe and this was 1967 or 1968. The 
first use of a toothed rubber belt was a Fiat, but it was around 1964. 
The Pontiac use of the technology was circa 1966. I just don't remember 
the Fiat model which used the thing. I could be wrong. The 124 could 
actually be older than I think it is but I have both the 1966 and the 
1967 World Car Catalogues, and the 164 Spider isn't in the 1966 book, 
but it is in the 1967 book.

I don't see why the 164 cam belt should be so expensive to replace.  
Even in Canadian dollars with a new water pump and belt tensioner, the 
whole ball of wax should be less that C$1000. I'm basing this on the 
fact that my mechanic will do it for less than US$600 including parts 
and labor.

Parts: Water pump    - US$100
                 Thermostat - US$50
            Belt tensioner - US$70
Belt for 12-valve V-6 - US$30
-------------------------------------------
                                        US$250
         3hrs@ 92.50/hr -US$277.50
--------------------------------------------
Total                              US$527.50


On Tuesday, Nov 26, 2002, at 10:15 US/Pacific, alfa-digest wrote:


> Date: Tue, 26 Nov 2002 09:31:26 -0700
> From: C M Smith <cmsmith@domain.elided>
> Subject: FIAT cam belt design
>
> I believe the first mass production use of rubber belt cam drives was 
> on
> the FIAT 124 when they grafted that twin cam head onto the rather
> pedestrian pushrod four to create a sports car engine. Clever idea. The
> main problem with cam belts is they are a consumable and people forget 
> to
> have them serviced periodically. There are lots of advantages to rubber
> belt cam drives. Unfortunately, the designers of the 164 V6 (actually 
> the
> Alfa 6 V6) also forgot about serviceability of this component and made 
> the
> whole thing ridiculously expensive. You can change the cambelt on a 
> Mazda
> four in about 1.5 hours for $90 plus parts, say $200 tops. By the time 
> you
> have "done" the 164 cambelt you have spent close to $1,500 including
> various parts you change "in case they fail later". All prices in 
> Canadian
> funds out here in the boonies of Western Canada.
>
>
> Michael Smith
> White 1991 164L
> Original owner
George Graves
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