Cogs Or Insanely Tight 10 Rib?????

**stevieturbo** · 10-07-2005, 08:19 PM

Defo no room for a strut on my car. I will look into making a new idler/tensioner setup though for more wrap.

But good news is, blower will be back on its way to me anytime now. Big thumbs up for Vortechs service, in both repair time, and the fact they repaired it for me without charge, even when it was my fault for over tightening.

**stevieturbo** · 10-12-2005, 05:44 PM

Woohoooo, got my blower back today. A Massive Thanks to Jamie at Vortech for sorting everything so quickly for me, and also to Ron at Axis for handling the shipping etc, also with great efficiency and speed..

Blower is back on the car, running quieter than it ever did. Bracket/idler pulley has been adjusted, so I have some pretty good belt wrap, so hopefully everything should be fine now.

**BLOWNBY** · 10-12-2005, 05:47 PM

Torque that bad boy down to like 85 lbft on the street and 120 lbft at the track. :blob: These have performed well for me for the past 5 years.

It is best to use a torque wrench. That way you always know exactly where your at. Also remember a new belt will be stretching for quit a few heat cycles.

Now go have some fun!

**Pro Stock John** · 10-13-2005, 09:53 AM

Interesting tq spec ideas, thanks! I had asked folks in the past for ideas on ideal tq specs.

I have a manual tensioner, basically I tighten the bolt and it pushes the tensioner down on the belt.

**BLOWNBY** · 10-13-2005, 10:22 AM

I just put in a 1/2" drive extension in a hole on the tensioner braket set the torque wrench and ....click....Tighten all bolts and TAH-DAH. Precision everytime.

I as well have an anderon ford tesioner. Probably similiar to your manual one as it pushes down on the braket to tighten the idler. I just use it to keep the braket from coming loose. I use the torque wrench then hand thread the bolt to that point and then tighten evrything. It is nice in that you don't have to worry about the braket coming loose.

**stevieturbo** · 10-13-2005, 07:08 PM

Oh bugger. Shredded the belt after a couple of blasts down the road.

All I did, was move the idler pulley about 1.5" closer to the blower pulley, which in turn gave it quite a bit more wrap. Existing bracketry was retained.

What could have cause the belt to shred in this instance ? With idler in previous location belt tracking was fine, and it seemed to be working fine, apart from me tightening it a bit much....

**BLOWNBY** · 10-13-2005, 07:45 PM

Something is definitly wrong. Did you throw the belts as well or did it just get chewed up?

**stevieturbo** · 10-13-2005, 07:52 PM

I drove for a bit after I heard the belt come off.

So strictly speaking, it didnt come off I think. About 4 ribs were still on the pulleys, the rest was shredded everywhere. Luckily no damage was done apart from slight damage to a PAS return pipe. Easy fix though.

**stevieturbo** · 10-13-2005, 07:59 PM

I'll try and get a couple of photos of both positions tomorrow to see what you think.

I need it sorted though for tomorrow night, as Im heading off to England and Scotland to hit a couple of tracks. Its going to be a long weekend. Looking at about a 1000 mile round trip.

**BLOWNBY** · 10-13-2005, 08:17 PM

Sounds good. Drop me some pics.

If the belts is walking off. Something must not be aligned right. Does your idler pulley have edges on it? Does it cover the entire surface of the belt. Also does it cover it evenly? Meaning is the same amount of pulley exposed on the block side of the belt as the radiator side?

Hope this makes sense!

**stevieturbo** · 10-14-2005, 09:00 AM

As far as brackets are concerned, and torquing for tension. Any pics of your setup to compare ?

Idler pulley does have edges, but was originally intended for the 50mm Cogged drive, so is too wide for my 10 rib.
My blower pulley was machined 12 rib ( but ended up I cant get a 12 in my length )
Crank pulley was my cogged one re-cut. Ended up 14 ribs across it.
Therein could lie part of my problem ????

I tried to fit a new belt with my new idler location, but its too tight with a new belt. I re-drilled and tapped a further mounting point. Not quite as close to the drive pulley. Photos are of original location, and 2nd drilling. Belt wrap isnt quite as good with the 2nd drilling which is pictured.

I guess it isnt that bad really, even with original location ?? Belt is a 64" Gates Micro V 10 rib

Pics left deliberately large. Ignore threaded rod, just used for purposes of photo.

Idler in original location. The new hole I drilled can be seen above and to the right of the pulley.

Original again, different angle.

New drilling / idler location

**BLOWNBY** · 10-14-2005, 09:19 AM

Originally Posted by stevieturbo

As far as brackets are concerned, and torquing for tension. Any pics of your setup to compare ?

Idler pulley does have edges, but was originally intended for the 50mm Cogged drive, so is too wide for my 10 rib.
My blower pulley was machined 12 rib ( but ended up I cant get a 12 in my length )
Crank pulley was my cogged one re-cut. Ended up 14 ribs across it.
Therein could lie part of my problem ????

I tried to fit a new belt with my new idler location, but its too tight with a new belt. I re-drilled and tapped a further mounting point. Not quite as close to the drive pulley. Photos are of original location, and 2nd drilling. Belt wrap isnt quite as good with the 2nd drilling which is pictured.

I guess it isnt that bad really, even with original location ?? Belt is a 64" Gates Micro V 10 rib

Pics left deliberately large. Ignore threaded rod, just used for purposes of photo.

Idler in original location. The new hole I drilled can be seen above and to the right of the pulley.

As far as torquing see the square hole it the picture above to the right of the idler. That is where you put the 1/2 extension on your torque wrench and push down. There should be two sqaure holes. One will work better than another. Not sure which one as mine is on the passenger side of the car.

Try running the belt all the way to the back (motorside) of the pullies. That may help from throwing the belt. Try letting the car idle and rev it a little does the belt do anything funny? If that doesn't work try all the way to the front.

I would also use the stock holes that came on the ilder braket.

**Pro Stock John** · 10-14-2005, 09:36 AM

If the belts are walking off, and you are losing ribs, it's an alignment issue.

**stevieturbo** · 10-14-2005, 10:42 AM

So what tools are available for checking alignment ?

Just out again, 1st to 3rd, bit of wheelspin every gear, albeit with traction control on, everything seemed ok. Checked belt, all was good.

Then another very short blast in 2nd gear only, no TCS on, probably hit the limiter for a bit at 6800rpm ( smooth cut ), belt shredded again.

Damn.