I have worked on older marine diesels that used gears to drive the OHC. I think they never took off in autos as they are probably very noisey. The Marine diesels made such a racket you never noticed the gear noise. The SVX intake cam is gear driven off the exhaust cam instead of having another loop in the timing belt. The intake gear is very interesting and complicated. The gear is actually two gears, sandwiched together. The two gears have a spring which pushes both sets of sprockets away from each other, to eliminate lash, and probably noise. I used to think timing belts were cheesy. After a decade and a half of use in the majority of cars, I am over it. My only dislike of them is what OEM dealers charge to change them. Many are a ripoff, and some cars they are difficult to get to. Timing belts are cheap, smooth, and very quiet. All that being said, having a belt versus a chain had no effect on our choice of the ECOTEC over the ZETEC. I do think it has a slight economic advantage for us and a long term customer, but not enough to tip the balance one way or the other. I am working on putting a 2.4 Ecotec (177 hp)in my Westy right now. I can't wait to see how it compares to the other engines that have been in the same van over the last couple of years. (SVX, 5 2.5's, 1 2.2). I can't wait to get the adapter plate and flywheel done so I can bolt it up. John East Coast Vanagon |
Please note - During the past 17 years of operation, several gigabytes of
Vanagon mail messages have been archived. Searching the entire collection
will take up to five minutes to complete. Please be patient!
Return to the archives @ gerry.vanagon.com
The vanagon mailing list archives are copyright (c) 1994-2011, and may not be reproduced without the express written permission of the list administrators. Posting messages to this mailing list grants a license to the mailing list administrators to reproduce the message in a compilation, either printed or electronic. All compilations will be not-for-profit, with any excess proceeds going to the Vanagon mailing list.
Any profits from list compilations go exclusively towards the management and operation of the Vanagon mailing list and vanagon mailing list web site.