Timing belt cover

[beater]

Just wondered how many people run there spider without the timing belt cover and the related risks to doing so?

[4uall]

only when I paint it, the risks are too many to list. Hair, fingers, shirt, cuffs, tools etc etc etc can all get caught up

[Michiganjfrog]

Holy crap only in the garage. The timing belt is so sensitive to the elements and if it breaks the world is detrotyed. Don't do it

[maytag]

Holy crap only in the garage. The timing belt is so sensitive to the elements and if it breaks the world is detrotyed. Don't do it

What? Are you serious? What elements do you think that cover protects against?

Look: the likelihood that stones or road debris get into that belt is next to zero.... Literally.
And if you are worried you're going to get yourself caught in it.... You should not be working on cars.

So, now that I'm home and not responding from my phone, let me say it a little better:

even if some foreign body were to make its' way into the belts / pulleys; a gear / pulley spinning at a minimum of 15 times per second is substantially more likely to kick back out anything that it comes into contact with than the likelihood of entrapping it.

We have had this conversation ad nausea in the Ducati world, because those cams are also belt-driven, and many like to remove the covers. thousands and thousands of motorcycles have logged millions and millions of miles with those covers removed, and never have I seen an instance of a belt failure where a cover would've saved it.

[beater]

Well I can see the danger of getting tangled up in it but on most older cars there are dangers you need to be aware of when you are under the hood with the motor running including fans, fan belts, heat etc.
I was thinking more of debris getting in it. I have run mine without it for the whole 12 years I've had it. I'm going to change all the rad hoses this week and thought if I was going to reinstall the cover it'd be a good time to do it.

[4uall]

well now that we know the back story, you are correct about the whole debris stuff however, stranger things have happened Probably better to make less work and re-install

[bradartigue]

Well I can see the danger of getting tangled up in it but on most older cars there are dangers you need to be aware of when you are under the hood with the motor running including fans, fan belts, heat etc.
I was thinking more of debris getting in it. I have run mine without it for the whole 12 years I've had it. I'm going to change all the rad hoses this week and thought if I was going to reinstall the cover it'd be a good time to do it.

They help reduce the risk of the belt getting nicked and of your finger getting chopped off. Minimal risk, perhaps, but look at it this way: if you're the kind of guy who buys anodized engine pulleys then you will justify not installing it; if you're the kind of guy who runs things stock then you're going to try to find all the parts to make it original. Two different schools of thought but both typically result in a good running motor.

These cars originally had belly pans and shields. Most lost their belly pan during their first dealer visit. By the time the Spider 2000 came out they had belly pans and lower and upper timing belt covers, and the plastic cover. With all of this stuff installed that belt was so well protected you couldn't even get to it to service things. Dealers and hamhanded mechanics (who blamed FIAT, not themselves) would also not bother to comprehend the timing belt replacement procedure and throw away the rear (metal) shields without replacing with new ones. The procedure was to replace with new ones, which FIAT supplied. Somewhere in the bins I have a service letter where FIAT is telling the dealers (tersely worded, by the way) that they won't cover warranty work when the car has not been serviced according to procedures for the timing belt and shield replacement.

BTW those belly pans help the cooling system as well as protect the motor from rocks and stuff. Contrary to (misguided) thinking that persists even to today, if you don't have them then the cooling efficiency of your radiator decreases.

[4uall]

ROCKS!


IMG_0122 by itzebtze, on Flickr

[htchevyii]

As you can see in the photo above, the most vulnerable part of the belt,(to rocks and road debris) is not even protected by the cover. You may have to do something else for timing marks without the cover.

[mdrburchette]

My timing cover has the timing marks on it and I like the idea of not having the timing belt exposed to where my dangle earrings or hair will get caught up in it. As for the belly pan, I also have that and the battery shield installed. They were made at an additional cost to the manufacturer for a reason so I keep them.

[bradartigue]

As you can see in the photo above, the most vulnerable part of the belt,(to rocks and road debris) is not even protected by the cover. You may have to do something else for timing marks without the cover.

It isn't protected because the lower cover is missing. Both the lower cover for the crankshaft pulley and the lower cover for the motor.

Cars rolled out of the factory with covers, and not just the timing belt cover.

[beater]

My guess is that while many spiders have the large upper cover with the timing marks on it less than 10% still have the lower cover or belly pan. I have read on more than one occasion it was a regular practice to cut the tin lower cover off and discard it when changing a belt. Are either of these parts available as aftermarket?

[maytag]

Y'all are silly.
The way you rationalize to yourselves...

By all means, if you want the belt cover on your car, then keep it! (or add / replace it). But when somebody asks why, and the best you can come up with is "they came that way for a reason".... That is simply uneducated foofoo.

Give them a real answer.

Why doesn't somebody find out why fiat decided to put them on the car?

my wife always cuts the ends off the ham before cooking it. Done it that way for 25 years. She doesn't know why, other than that her mother did it that way. But i finally got a chance to ask mom-in-law why. .... She says its because their oven was too small to get the whole ham in, so she cut the ends off.

I say again: find out why fiat put them on the car.

Y'all are silly.

[4uall]

It is a well known fact that due to Italy's coastal length a lot of debris would always wash ashore. For generations the children of Italy would floc to these shores to clean and recycle the debris. Upon hearing this Fiat decided to use this to their advantage. They started a program for the children of the workers in their factory. Fiat would pay the children for each piece of aluminum they would bring in (later plastic as it was mostly plastic that would was ashore as the years went on). Fiat has never taken the credit however, to this day many give credit to Fiat for introducing the first recycling program.

[fiat218]

there on for safety