Gary Knox

Those gears certainly look a lot better after 70K miles than the OE gears on my '94 GTS did when I purchased it in '06 with 60K miles on it. The gears on the '94 were worn enough that we replaced all of them when doing the TB/WP service. Serviced the OE tensioner completely at that time as well.

This past winter, I replaced the belt at 20K miles/5 years, and installed the PK tensioner. The gears all looked like new at that point (tension checked annually, always within spec). Based on your pictures, I assume the gears and most of the tensioner system will now be good until the car has 180 K miles!!

Thanks for the update.

Gary-

jbrob007

I installed the Porkensioner with Gates Racing Belt & Laso WP at 45K miles. My gears had some wear but I was not prepared to replace them at the time (out of ignorance really). At 65K miles we took off the belt to adjust the timing using Porken's 32v timing tool. The gears were in the same shape they were in when we installed the Porkensioner / Belt. I am prepared to replace the gears the next time we go into the engine compartment just as a precaution. I dont drive the car TOOOO hard, but I dont baby her either... She likes it that way To date I have 72k miles on the car (31K in two years & climbing). I'm convinced the gear wear was from lack of tensioner maintenance by the PO combined with a 30 yr old design. Ken's products stopped the gear wear dead in its tracks.

928er

I'm also glad to hear that the racing belts don't increase wear on the gears or their coatings.

SeanR

I put the gates racing belt on some semi worn gears on my car about 5k ago along with the pk tensioner, just before the SC install. I'll be pulling the covers to see if they have worn any more. It's not scientific so take my observations for what you paid for them.

ROG100

With the racing timing belt and a PKensioner I see a 80k/100k mile TB change in the near future.
At the worst a tensioner change at 40k/50k.

jayc67

So what about the latest water pumps? Are we changing them now at a TB job simply because we are in there already or do they really need changing at the current schedule?

ROG100

Check the WP for bearing wear and that it has a plastic impeller. Make sure it is not a rebuild of any type. New gasket and carry on.

jcorenman

ptuomov

Great to hear reports back that the Porkensioner works. It's been installed on so many cars with so good results at this point that I think there's no longer a shadow of a doubt that it works.

Two questions, though:

(1) What's the minimum oil pressure at which the Porkensioner can be expected to work well? Suppose that I have an engine in which I've lowered the oil pressure a lot. Suppose that I am feeding in the absolute minimum that the mains need to oil the rods, say 30 psi and low rpm and 70 psi at the redline. Finally, suppose that this is a very light motor so the rotating assembly accelerates very fast. Will the Porkensioner work on this engine with the stiffest Gates belt?

(2) What's the best idea so far for repurposing the belt tension warning sensor/signal/light?

SeanR

1)There is no correlation between oil pressure and the tensioner. The tensioner is an enclosed unit.

2) there isn't any.

ptuomov

Exposing my ignorance right there! ;-) I forgot that unit is spring loaded. (Too much cam chain stuff in my brain, I guess. I'll have purge the brain cells on Friday night... but not with the BC method.) I've been trying to think of all the things that will go wrong when the oil pressure is lowered, good to hear that this is not one of them. So I guess it's just tensions the belt with a spring, instead of acting as a tension reliever as the engine heats up like the stock part. Coming back to me slowly.

On 2: surely people like Porken have figured out a way to use a free signla line! ;-)

Tom in Austin

Is there a need to continue using rollers under the crank gear? Was looking at Greg's pictures to see if he still has his. I left mine off after seeing how the PK's roller guides the belt in that area, didn't seem that there's any way for the belt to flop around down there now ...

dprantl

I also removed them. That was 3.5 years and over 30k miles ago...

Dan
'91 928GT S/C 475hp/460lb.ft

John Speake

I have a prototype system made up on the bench, however I have yet to try it on a car....

davek9

Also removed them on both 85 and 86.5 cars.

Dave