[Mk2] [Turbo] Cambelt Change Intervals

[28Ace82]

Hi all,

I have a rev3 turbo which had an engine rebuild in late 2008, early 2009. It had a new cambelt at the time and has only covered 20,000 or so miles since then. The car has been outside most of the time since then and has not been driven very much at all since summer 2012. Will the belt need changing before driving it again this summer? Is it likely that it will have perished significantly in the years since it was new? I am guessing most of you would say change it to be on the safe side but I am not sure how easy I am going to find the job. I have a mechanic friend who, after dropping the engine out of my Celica GT4 ST205, said it would be a nightmare to change the cambelt on the mr2. Thought we would have to drop the engine just to change the belt. He has since changed his mind now and says he will be able to do it no problem. On which occasion was he right? Is there any belt you can get that will last longer than 5 years? My friend has a skyline with a kevlar belt that he says will last near enough forever. Sounds like a good idea to me! Any advice would be much appreciated!
Cheers,
Andrew.

[ashley]

You can do the belt with the engine in the car, it's a pain though- and you might actually save time by dropping the engine to do it, means you can do the water pump at the same time.

And yes- you can get kevlar belts (HKS for example), but I can't see a lot of point unless you are running some lumpy cams, or some crazy revs...

Just my opinion of course

[Peter Gidden]

No belts last forever.

Your belt is due to be changed this year.

5 hours with engine in car. Add 40 minutes to change water pump at same time.

As Ash says, you deem to have no reason to need to spend £150 on a belt when you can spend £40.