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Well this is interesting. My belt was not changed (that I'm aware) and factory installed when i got the car and that pic I posted above was from it before I installed.
Drive Belt
Despite the access issues, this was the easiest drive belt replacement I've done since my 1979 toyota landcruiser FJ40.
1. Take a few pictures first so you make sure you get the routing right.
The trick here is a long breaker bar which makes moving the idler pulley really easy.
2. Once the belt is off the idler, just work the belt out, it's tight, but will come out. I did crawl under the car and used a long screwdriver to unloop the belt from the crank pulley.
3. Now, for putting it back in, I started with the crank pulley, work the belt down there and crawl under the car, get it looped on, then I routed the belt on the right side of the engine, then the left. Get it routed on all the accessories.
4. The final route is the idler pulley next to the pulley that moves, when ready, crank the idler pulley, slip it on the other idler pulley
5. Use a light and crawl under the car, ensure the belt is on all the pulleys correctly!!! You do not want to shred a belt. Check and double check before starting car.
Couple other items while you have it apart:
--Use some MAF cleaner, pull the MAF out (requires T-20 security bit) and clean it up. Clean the housing. Don't use anything but MAF cleaner on the MAF. Sensitive electrical device!!!
--Clean the throttle body with throttle body cleaner and use a rag to capture any run off, wipe it clean. Rotate the butterfly and make sure it's all clean. Mine was a little dirty.
Last part:
Clean up the engine bay a bit and put the filter box back on.
Start the car, it may sputter a little bit due to fuel filter being empty, but mine started right up. Check the belt and check to ensure the fuel filter is NOT LEAKING!!!!
All this took me less than 2 hours.
Originally Posted by Ur20v
The correct way....
Interesting that Spyrex's drive belt routing differs from what Ur20V posted.
996 GT3 manual agrees with Ur20v image.
I'll know if it works (manual and Ur20v when I try to install drive belt tonight on 6 GT3.
Spyrex, was there any resolution to this from your perspective?
so... actually... my belt when I took that picture way back when, that was done by a Porsche dealer here locally. the PO had the belt changed, I swapped it again and used the same layout.
I need to look at the car again, I've had the shop do a couple of belt changes and will confirm which is right. to them lol
Chris?
i successfully installed and tested drive belt earlier this weekend.
i used the same routing as ur20v supplied image = 996 GT3 / Turbo technical manual.
Hope all is well.
I got the Continental Elite Poly V 4060885 belt with “quiet channel” technology, which also looks to disperse water like a tire-
I havent seen anyone comment on these, but when I wash the car and the belt gets wet, I can hear it squeak for a second, so maybe this belt has that advantage (?)
Replaced mine today-seems wasteful since my belt was still looking good and "rubbery"-the outer part was beginning to get a glazed look, but other than that, looked very good. The 15mm with breaker bar is the way to go, at least on my 997.2-
I was going to use the "gator back" Continental that i bought, but decided to go with OEM style V belt. Taylor at TuneRS gave me a Contitech belt(big thanks, hadn't been there before, nice shop!)
It took a bit of patience to slip it in and route, went under to make sure it was according to diagram and compared to my before pics-original poster indeed seems to have his installed differently(perhaps the way the 996 did)
You guys are gonna think I’m crazy, but after installing the Contitech I went out and got the newest Continental, the OE Technology Series 4060885-it supersedes the Elite V and it says so on their website-so I set out to find the newest belt I could get, and as far as Continental goes, it’s the one. On other forums I read quite a bit about the “gatorback” type belts, and in fact today I spoke to another indie Porsche tech who said he read a Porsche bulletin recommending the gatorback style belt to quiet squeaks and squeals. I had bought the EliteV gatorback type belt because it’s supposed to be quieter and more flexible but hadn’t seen anyone on any Porsche forums using them. On Vette, Mustang, Subaru and other forums I see people really like them. But today when I searched again, Continental says it’s phasing out the Elite V
On post #22 I put a pic of the quiet gatorback EliteV, but after searching this link, it says they are phasing it out and you will see both in the market until the OE style supersedes the EliteV. Search for your car: