What if someone made a cover that was easily removed from the front and was basically a front-and-a-half cover: it covered the rear a bit as well, but was primarily for the front and underside, and was removable from the front w/o having to mess around w/ the crank pulley...

...hmmm sounds like a neat excuse for me to do some fiberglassing again...

 

Just enlarge the hole for the crank in the rear cover, so it can slip over the crank pulley.

 

What about my situation, where I have to drive 5 miles each way to and from the highway on a dusty gravel road? I would not think of driving with lack of belt covers because of wear to the belts, pulley bearings as well. Belly pan firmly bolted on.
Mike

 

If you have all of the belly poans then how is gravel going to jump up and bother your belts?
The belt covers are there for two reasons.
Heat shielding and FOD prevention.
However, if the pans are in place, you are MUCH better able to monitor belt wear and proper tension.

 

since some of you dont use the belt covers, does anyone have a set for sale? mine is broken on the front upper left side.
ernest

 

25,000 miles in 1 year.

No belt covers.


Im still here.

 

I dont run the top cover.

 

i agree with a previous post. those belt covers are there for a reason, may want to keep them.

but if you really want them gone, i think you should be fine if you have a belly pan on it to block rocks and such.

 

I think the belt covers are probably more to protect the engines from human contact rather than rocks or beer cans from the road.

They are there so that when Mr. Wal Mart mechanic is running the engine, trying to adjust his cold air intake, he doesnt drop his screw driver in between the balance shaft and timing belt and cause a big oopsies.

Id worry about people screwing things up before id worry about a pebble. Just my one cent, as its clearly not worth 2 cents.

 

agreed. didnt think of that actually but that is a very valid point.

 

Don't delete the covers. They are there to protect the gears and belts from debris. Especially on a track car it is wise to have them (a bed pan will help protect from debris but it still has holes in it to direct cooling and debris up into the engine). All you need is a rock or a loose hard item to get stuck between the belt and the gear to snap the belt or throw off the timing and you'll need a new engine. I've seen this happen before. For street cars you maybe slightly safer as there isn't much of a threat of going off road and picking up debris.

 

Argh.. I'm still 50/50 on doing this. One person gives a valid point one way, then another does the other way.

 

leave em on. germans don't do anything without reason.......or do they??

 

Come on people, it's not that hard taking the covers off. Even the back cover.

 

I leave the top front one off. no belly pan. Don't do it unless you're going to just suck it up and deal with it if something happens. I'd rather be able to watch my belt incase its getting loose or damaged, and if some miracle of god happens that kills my belt and destroys my engine, well i have a spare head.