Originally Posted by ludeboom
the actual part # on the belt itself matches the old and the ebay one?
OK, here is a really serious lesson for all readers.
I was about to reply, irritably, "Yes, dumbass, of COURSE it's the same number. I've checked it REPEATEDLY."
But I caught myself and went back to look one more time, just in the infinitesmally tiny case that I was wrong.
Guess what? I was wrong.
Get this: original belt reads 126RU26, 14400-P72-004, UNITTA Made in Japan.
The replacement belt reads 126RU26, 14400-P72-014, UNITTA Made in Japan.
One digit off. This is a B18C1 GSR engine. But the belt I put in is for a B18C5 -- it's a frickin' TYPE R BELT.
So, it's a genuine part all right, I didn't get a clone or a fake, it's just that the guy that listed it on ebay as a GSR belt was wrong.
And when I looked at the numbers before installing the new belt, I was wrong too. My brain must have seen what it wanted to see (because I absolutely did check those numbers against each other).
I looked at 'em again when trouble cropped up, and I must have just looked at the identical 126RU26 and not at the fine print.
Who's the dumbass here? Not ludeboom.
The ebay seller's a dumbass for not verifying what he was selling. I'm an equally big dumbass for not doing a digit to digit write-down comparison (especially after realizing that the length of the belt was a bit different).
And Honda/Acura corporate are dumbasses for using this part coding. I used to supervise computerized inventory control in my day job. If someone working for me had generated an off-by-one-digit stock number for a visually similar but functionally different part, I would have kicked their asses across the room. Then I would have gone back and carefully explained that it is superbad juju to assign codes in that way. Too much risk of casual confusion.
If the parts look similar, the codes have to look different. Mixups are inevitable otherwise. Honda don't seem to have figured that out. D'oh!
Anyway, I went back and rechecked, and I have escaped this little lesson without any bent valves, praise the deity of your choice. Still have 205 to 210 psi on all four cylinders.
Now I've got to go pick up a proper GSR belt. Anyone need a spare ITR belt?