Thoughts on Ebay rebuild kit

[Devin LeBlanc]

Well I'm going to be rebuilding a GTE from the bottom up, head and block decked ect. When I rebuilt my N/A I got an Ebay Gasket set for 50.00 and used everything from it except the head gasket.. Everything worked great and is still working great. I will be using a HKS MHG on the GTE however I was wondering If anyone has ever gotten one of these and used the timing belt or water pump from it? Im not worried about the pistons,rings, or bearings as they are NPR and ACL or King.. A Timing belt from Rockauto is less than 20.00.. The biggest thing I would be worried about is the timing belt in this kit.. Use it or not, This wont be a high power engine just stock turbo with exhaust and the boost upped to 10-12 lbs with a SAFC for tuning.


http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/87-9...rQ5fTruckQ5fPartsQ5fAccessories#ht_2794wt_939

So should I get an autozone, myers, or rockauto timing belt or just use what comes with this rebuild kit..

Thanks

 

[nuggets]

Hard to say as we don't know what brand the ebay kit has. Any way of finding out? One thing I notice about the ebay kit is that it shows an oil pan gasket whereas the 7M uses FIMG. Makes me wonder about the kit. As far as timing belt manufacturers for the 7M I know of Gates, Greddy, and of course Toyota. If it were me, knowing what a PITA changing the timing belt can be and how damaged a 7M can get with after an overheat, I'd go with Toyota (or better) for the timing belt and water pump.

 

[leftynridge]

As they say you get what you pay for. It depends on what your goals are for the build and as nugget said it depends on the brand. I was just in the same situation with my rebuild. I had to decide if I wanted to pinch off a little funds and go with a off brand or if I wanted the best quality and go with an OEM complete gasket kit. Now granted there is a huge price difference between a $50.00 ebay kit and $400 plus OEM kit but at the end of the day I wanted my build to last and I diffidently don't want to be the guy 20,000 miles down road thinking " Damn I should of went with the OEM kit."

 

[jefman22]

From the looks of the kit, its the same as a friend got from eBay. He had the same thought and got a Toyota belt and a Toyota water pump, both of which work well.

 

[sushi]

I didn't have any luck with an eBay kit I bought for my Prelude. The HG was crap and the cam seals were too small. A few of the gaskets were OK, but not worth the price since I had to buy OEM ones to replace the crap parts.

 

[leftynridge]

Also a lot of these ebay gasket kits will have most of your main gaskets but will be missing a lot of the small gaskets that will not come to mind until you realize that it needs a gasket. So once you start nickel and dimen here and there it ends up being worth it to just go with an OEM gasket set. Plus if you plan on going with a metal head gasket you can resale the OEM head gasket for 80-90 dollars. The quality is a night and day difference even compared to a felpro gasket set.

 

[Devin LeBlanc]

Yeah, I got the Ebay rebuild kit when I did the head job on my N/A.. I did not use the head gasket, But used all of the other gaskets and seals which fit and worked well. A gates timing belt is like 20.00 so Ill just go that route, If the water pump fails its right there and easy to change.

 

[akito]

A timing belt from Toyota is 38~ last time i checked so i'd add the 18 and go with OEM. I bought one of the ebay's 'gasket' set and used everything else except the HG. Worked great for me.

 

[Another MkIII]

I personally went with this kit: http://www.importperformanceparts.net/imports/topekits-toy3.html (you have to scroll down). I haven't had any problems with anything.
-AM3

 

[Devin LeBlanc]

Change of plans, NA-T More power, higher compression pistons should be fun! so no need for a rebuild kit for this GTE