240Z: DYO Differential strap belt

Recently, a friend and I were working on the 240Z Original R180 differential and we both were not happy with neither the state of the original factory-installed differential strap belt, nor with the replacement options. None of the available replacements look anything close to the original belts. After a b it of research, my friend found this one on AliExpress, which is some sort of V-belt or something:
https://de.aliexpress.com/item/1005006145171328.html make sure to order the 12ribs pk560 type.
NOTE: We realized all original belts had different lengths (probably due to wear and tear), so make sure to measure your original one (best done with a piece of tape) before you order. I also cannot guarantee that this will fit perfectly and was not able to install it yet.
But so far it looks pretty good:

The only problem: the replacement belt has some pretty colorful markings on the outside and is quite shiny. I tried different things, but the best to get rid of it was simply to sand it off with some 80-grit paper:

After some manual attempts, I chose the belt-sander to get rid of the rest. Be careful to sand off a minimum only, if you remove too much material, the woven white threads inside the rubber will become visible. Not what you want.

And here is the result:
Left AliExpress replacement original, Center: Aliexpress sanded down. Right: Original Nissan Belt. I’m quite satisfied, and so far it looks like the most OEM-looking option I have seen so far. Somewhere in the future we’ll see how well it fits, too 🙂