Product review - Clear timing belt covers.

Been wanting to get a set for some time now and missed it when Chinese was selling these on the board. When 3sx got them and the price went up I lost interest completely. Then on Black Friday they had them on sale for about the price they initially were when first introduced so I bit the bullet. I got them in the mail today and decided to fit them up. Pulled off my stock dipped covers and then began work on the clear ones.

First thing to note, I got two different boxes. one was a 3sx branded box and the other was the original HSXconcepts box that Chinese sold his in. The front was in the 3sx box and the rear in the HSX box.

The front one was the first one to be opened. It had three layers of saran wrap on it and after getting it off I noticed lots of vertical scratches on the face of the cover. Very minor but they are not crystal clear. Once mounted I don't even notice them. The front had clouding in the Poly in certain spots. I first thought they were cracked or stress marks, but closer shows its just a cloud in the plastic. May be the spot where the molds are filled. IDK. Kind of hard to get a good picture of with the light.

http://i1240.photobucket.com/albums/...psvmwah5fn.jpg

So the rear was a pain... plane and simple. Get the two bolts for the rear holes in and the front hole between the VC's doesn't line up. None of the tabs that insert into the lower cover line up and there is a gap between the cover and the lower. After a little twisting at the top I got the top bolt in place between the VC's. I turned the motor by hand to ensure they would not rub the cam gears or belt which I thought they might due to the twisting I needed to get the last bolt in place. Luckily they did not. I also noticed a hollow air pocket in the tab for the botl moun between the covers... Hope that doesn't cause that mount tab to fail.

Gap between the clear covers and lower stock cover:
http://i1240.photobucket.com/albums/...psxwn5zgb7.jpg

Air pocket in tab:
http://i1240.photobucket.com/albums/...psibhxyzdj.jpg

The front cover bolt holes lined up better. I can't tell if the tabs to the lower are in place as the front engine mount sort of blocks it. The biggest issue is that the front should slide up the rear cover... Well it is not even close. It basically butts up to it and the bottom has a gap.

http://i1240.photobucket.com/albums/...psyor8drck.jpg

http://i1240.photobucket.com/albums/...pscuugfpfs.jpg

http://i1240.photobucket.com/albums/...psbufl19jt.jpg

Looking at some of Chinese and 3sx photos of them mounted they all have that center alignment issue. Not sure why it was never addressed. My stock ones lined up just fine so it's not an issue with how my engine is. I'l probably have to fab up a centerpiece like what 3sx mocked up for the 3.5L engines using the covers to hide that horrible center gap issue.

As for the materials themselves, there is no Resin Identification Code on them but it is stated they are Polycarbonate on 3sx site. No RIC makes me guess they are made outside of the US "Not due to Chinese being the original creator :p " If they are PolyC then heat shouldn't be an issue unless you have a serious cooling problem. PollyC is moldable (Tg) at 297f which your engine bay should never reach. as far as yellowing goes. PolyC can and will yellow unless a UV stabilizer additive was added to the resin. but since they are not in direct contact with the sun you shouldn't see any issue I would think. UV is what causes the yellowing in PolyC. Arcylic will yellow through normal heat cycling. Guess only time will tell.

Wow that's seriously disappointing on these. You would think they would have done a bit better R&D. Shame :(

With today's laser scan capabilities, you'd think someone could produce an exact duplicate of the stock covers.

yes, that do not fit perfectly and due to the stress of the bolts lining up some cracks will appear around some of the bolt holes. I have serious doubts about their long term durability, but they look good for now and are holding up okay after 2 years.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Forest Gump

yes, that do not fit perfectly and due to the stress of the bolts lining up some cracks will appear around some of the bolt holes. I have serious doubts about their long term durability, but they look good for now and are holding up okay after 2 years.

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Yeah that is what I was worried about with the bolt holes not lining up. Getting stress cracks in the Poly. I was thinking I may soften them in the powder coating oven a little and install them while still hot to see if that helps a little as they should cool into the position then need to be in. Never worked with PolyC so hesitant on heating them up.

Might was close enough I wondered if reaming the bushings really thin would help.

Dont spill any petrol on them, it will cause them to cloud instantly. ...I learned that the hard way :(

I've been half-close to buying them several times; gratified to see my instincts don't totally suck.

Here's hoping someone comes in with a "New, Improved..." set, and cheaper into the bargain. :wink:

Ugh. Petrol, or engine bay cleaner. One of mine is clouded up, and has 0 miles on it. I have that same gap in the middle, where it fits really poorly. I didn't check the lower tabs part yet, though. I think mine were both HSX, but bought through 3SX (I got them a couple years ago).

IIRC the users Chinese aka HSXconcepts is the one making them for 3SX.

So been working on the car some installing the new turbo's and injectors. When swapping the injectors out I noticed the that the end of the rear cover had completely cracked off. A big piece was just hanging there about to fall into the timing belt area. I was able to grab it with some needle nose pliers before it slipped in.

http://i1240.photobucket.com/albums/...ps1n9yabra.jpg

So the point of the covers is to keep shit out of the timing belt area, but since these things fit like shit and are very fragile, expect when they do break that pieces will fall into the timing belt area and probably tear your timing belt as they are sharp.

And the comments about fuel/cleaners, yep will cloud them right up which will happen to everyone as you can't get the rear cover off without removing the fuel rail loop, which will leak fuel on the covers. I always shove towels below my loop to catch any fuel drips, but just enough got on the loop and touched the cover to cloud it.


So Conclusion - Not Worth The Price!!!

1. Broken within 30 days of being installed with ZERO miles on the car.
2. Does not withstand fuel/cleaners - in a location where it will be exposed to fuel.
3. Fitment is piss poor. Nowhere close to being stock fitment.
4. Way over priced with the issues they have.

How disappointing, heard about fitment but first I saw picks, I would have sent temp back.

Huh, mine fit alright, and I'm able to install them without loosening the fuel loop, but... I don't have that bracket between the heads that provides the middle mounting point (appears to be where yours broke), and I did cloud up the back of the rear cover with a couple drops of brake fluid.

These should be made out of some material a little more forgiving, like lexan or some similar poly. Other platforms have them that do not have these problems with their clear covers

We installed a set recently with same results as Greg.

I just installed mine, same results. Very poor fitment. Gaps between the upper covers and lower cover (enough to allow small objects into the timing belt area), large gap between metal shield between the heads and the upper covers, etc. For the price, not at all worth it as far as function goes.

Looks like they made the molds off of stock covers without taking into account material shrinkage. I see this all the time in cheap parts.

Yeah I can definitely see this being an issue with shrinkage on cooldown.

That's some fraudulent stuff right there, where are the refunds?

If it don't fit right don't sell it, don't let down your customers an the community unless you going to state the fitment issues an poor design, but can sort of still work, lmao, that's some bad business right there, manufacture needs to step up replace an re design if they want anymore orders, at least from me.