Still have tensioner PROBLEM "new Pics - with new belt"

[mheinjr]

I just went out and got the tightest belt I could get. Now I installed it and I installed the tensioner and I still have a problem...... I am thinking about doing what fomoco says to do and grind the nub off and just tighten it enough......

Here is a picture with just the belt showing how much room I got:


Here is another angle:


Here is a close-up of my tensioner on the new belt:


Here is another angle:


Should I just grind the nub and hope for the best or what????

Thanks

Mark

[AaronC]

Is there any way to raise the idler pulley? I think that's what the far left one is. If you could raise it, it'd change the angle of the belt and then it might clear. I'm not sure if this is possible though.

[468LC]

Grinding the nub off will gain you nothing but a slipping belt in this case. Think about it? You would have to set it up to rotate the tensioner CCW and that would take away all the tension.

Remember you are working with a semi custom application so you are going to have to work around this.

If it were my car I would buy a cobra water pump pulley(smaller dia.) and also run a 3.8L ford power steering pump pulley which is larger in dia. This would provide you with the clearence needed.

Also is that smog pump eliminator cockeyed or loose or something. I don't know may be it's just the pic.

[regattacoupe]

you can go to a shorter belt. i just put mine together tonite! i'll post pics soon.

[RydeOn]

looks to me like the cobra water pump pulley is the only thing that would help here, or putting ac back in the car

[mygt8a4re]

regattacoupe, what belt length(part#) did you end up with?
thanx

[mheinjr]

Put a shorter belt?.... I had to use a screw driver to get the belt on the pulley's...

Well I will look in the yunkyard down the road for the powersteering pulley, but as for the cobra w/p pulley I don't know where to buy that.


The smog pump... It's on right it must be the pic.


Mark

[regattacoupe]

ill have pics and the belt # tonite.

[Chuck]

I have been staring at a the pics trying to find you a good sloution and the only thing I can come up with is the addition of another idler to raise the belt up.

If you were to add an idler on the mounting plate that would give you the height you need to clear the PS pump.

If you look at the old style 1K kits there is an idler that simply bolts to the front plate, and if the spacing is correct from the plate to the back of the pulley, that could work.

If you look at your second pic you can see four bolts in almost a square pattern, 2 of them are head unit bolts the other 2 hold the tensioner mount. If there is room behind there you could add the idler there and it will definatly give you the angle that you need.

I will measure the spacing on my plate from the plate to the back of the pulley to see if it is the same as yours for belt alignment.

That is the best I can come up with man,

Chuck

[Chuck]

regatta,

Might be a dumb question but do you have A/C???

I dont understand why Mark would have this problem and not you.

[mheinjr]

I think ragatta has A/C. Well I ordered my cobra water pump pulley this morning, and I went to the junkyard and I saw a 3.8l in a firebird with a 7" power steering pulley. After looking at the size pulley I think by adding both of those pulley's I shouldn't have a problem. I just went out a spent $70 on a pulley puller so tomarrow I will get that pulley, but I have to wait for the other.

I think this will work out fine, but for now we need to wait :)

I will get back to you all when I get both pulley's installed, take a measurement for the belt, and install both.

Will have pic's good news or bad.

Mark

[regattacoupe]

yes i have a/c.

[468LC]

Mark this is the powersteering pump pulley you want to try.

It is found on 3.8litre FORD V6 cars and I think some of the 2.3litre cars. Don't take a chebbie one.




If these two pulleys don't work you will have to try and mount an additional paxton idler to the blower plate like chuck has mentioned.

If it were mine and I do a lot of fab work I would also try and just move the smog pump eliminator up onto the blower plate in a higher position.

Keep us posted.

[TheHawk05]

An extra idler pulley will work fine. We had to do that on my brother's Mustang with his Vortech install. We simply picked a spot on the blower bracket where we knew there wouldn't be clearance issues and slipped the pulley under the belt. I got him to pull up on the pulley and belt to take up as much slack as possible and then marked for a hole on the blower plate, drilled it and fastened the pulley in place using some washers in behind to get the spacing right. Worked like a charm! It's hard to see in this pic but it will give you an idea where to put it.

[mheinjr]

Yeah let me try these 2 pulley's first "I have a good feeling about it". If not I wil have to drill a hole and put a small idler pulley in.

It looks to me like these is plenty of room for me to install an idler puller if I have to

Thanks for your help i'll get back to you on this in a few days.

Mark