Help!

[Tom @ Fast Forward]

I think it was Pat but I don't remember. One of you with a hotside was having belt alignment problems and discovered it was the vertical alignment of the pulleys that was the problem. I have another customer with a similar problem and wanted to point him at the thread and can't find it. Help!

[BlownMX5]

I think it was Pat but I don't remember. One of you with a hotside was having belt alignment problems and discovered it was the vertical alignment of the pulleys that was the problem. I have another customer with a similar problem and wanted to point him at the thread and can't find it. Help!

I'm not sure there was ever a thread about it, only my never-ending phone calls to you :hammer:.

My issue was that the blower was nose-up relative to the engine. This caused the belt to ride toward the rear of the tensioner pulley, rubbing on the power steering pulley. I tried moving everything out away from the engine by putting spacers behind all three pulleys but that didn't solve it. The BRP bracket doesn't have any adjustment built in to it that allows raising the rear of the blower, so I removed the bracket and ground some slop into the mounting holes. I put it back together and lifted the rear of the blower while I tightened the bolts. I got lucky and it is now perfect.

Pat.

[Tom @ Fast Forward]

Well, I thought I remembered the "Pat" part. :) I thought it was you. I also thought you posted it here someplace but it might have just been emails. Thanks. I will pass this on.

[BlownMX5]

If they'd like to get in touch with me, that would be fine.

[eunos1800]

Hi guys,

Slightly delayed response but it's me that's having the problem.

Had the BRP/SOT hotside installed on my 94 motor, everything was fine, Tom's Auto-Tensioner worked perfectly.
In October of last year i replaced my 94 motor with a 99 complete block, bottom end head everything.

Problem i've had since is the Auto-Tensioner pulley grinds on the PS pulley.

I've tried various shimming techniques but can't seem to find a happy compromise.
The A/T and SC is sitting perfectly level i'm getting no movement on A/T pulley, the belt is riding consistently square.

I've tried packing out the mounting point of the A/T but to pack it out enough the tensioner pulley then rides on the edge of the belt causing belt damage.


Spent a fair bit of time around car parts shops trying to find a smaller pulley, but couldn't find one.

In the end i ground away a small section of the PS pulley and A/T pulley, this bodge seemed to work.


Problem i now have though is i have a new skimmed head going on the motor, so the SC will be sitting fractionally lower in relation to the motor.

I've read that the 99-00 hotside kits mounting holes are slightly lower (raising the SC) compared to the 94-98 kits.
Is this true?


Cheers
Mark

[BlownMX5]

I had an alignment problem on my '94 hotside also. Upon original install, it was fine. Then I had the motor rebuilt which involved using my old head and a different block. After putting it all back together, the blower was clearly no longer parallel with the crank, it was higher at the front, causing contact with the p/s pulley and just generally crappy belt wear. The BRP mounting bracket really has no adjustability at all. I took the blower off and ground the bracket holes a bit with my Dremel to allow some vertical "slop". When putting it back together, I first raised the rear of the car until the motor was perfectly horizontal, as indicated by checking various obvious flat surfaces with a bubble level. I then used the bubble level to make sure that the blower was aligned right before tightening the bolts. It worked fine.

(After writing all of this, I went back and re-read the thread and discovered I'd already gone through it. Sorry for the redundancy ;)).

[eunos1800]

Hi Pat,


It's sitting parallel though.
It's straight as a die.


The problem is it seems that the SC sits lower on the 99 motor than the 94 motor :confused:
Are the SC mount brackets the same 94-97 to 99-00?

As i say it's ok now, but the new head is skimmed so the SC will be mounting even lower and even closer to the PS pulley.



Also, does anyone know what car the Auto-Tension comes off?
I've got all the brackets and just need the pulley, it'd be a shame to pay all that postage and customs if it's a part i can find over here.



Cheers
Mark

[BlownMX5]

What about shimming everything away from the motor? I also had to do that. I got a 1/4" spacer for the nose pulley from Tom and had a spacer made for the crank by a machine shop friend based on a drawing I got from Tom. I just used some miscellaneous washers to shim the auto-tensioner. With all three pulleys an additional 1/4" farther out, even though the tensioner pulley overlaps the p/s pulley, it is OK.

[Tom @ Fast Forward]

Don't know what car but it is a Gates or GoodYear 38178 number for the device.

[eunos1800]

Do you mean shim the A/T out towards the radiator?


I tried that, problem is by the time i've shimmed it enough to stop it catching the belt is running off the edge of the pulley damaging the belt.


Only solutions i can see are:

1/ Raise the SC (with a different SC mount)
2/ Fit a smaller A/T pulley

The smaller pulley pulley is looking like the easiest solution, it's just finding one the right size that fits.


Tom,
Are your 94-97 SC brackets exactly the same as the 99-00 ones please?


I'll do a search locally and see if i can find that part thanks.
If not do you sell just the tensioner arm and pulley?


Cheers
Mark

[Tom @ Fast Forward]

I can send you a 1/4" spacer for the SC pulley

[eunos1800]

Ahhh sorry a bit slow on the uptake there.

So you mean to move the whole belt track forward, the SC pulley and the A/T?

I have a FM ARB up front, so it's pretty tight, i don't think 1/4" will cause much in the way of clearance problems though.

If i could find a slightly smaller A/T wheel it'd make things a lot easier though.


What's worrying me is if i'm the only person to experiance this problem in thousands of SC fitments there's a good chance something else is wrong somewhere.


Tom are the mounting brackets identical on the NA to NB kits?




Cheers
Mark

[Tom @ Fast Forward]

The tensioner on the hotsides is hard to get set. Once it is set, it works great. The only 'clean' solution I know is to move it all forward. I can send you a 1/4" spacer for the SC pulley. I may even have one for the crank pulley. Just use a couple washers for the tensioners. BRP hotside brackets varied a lot more than the engines.

[eunos1800]

That's great Tom thanks.

I'll try and source some longer bolts as well, any idea on what length is needed mate?

I can't find that A/T part over here, do you sell just the tensioner separate from the bracket and mounting hardware please?

I'm tempted to go up slightly a pulley size as well.
What do you have in stock bigger than 125mm and how much please?


Cheers
Mark

[Tom @ Fast Forward]

If you mean the crank bolts, they would change from 35mm to 40mm. I have those too if you can't get them. I am tied up today but will check on spacers as soon as I can.

[eunos1800]

Fantastic Tom thanks.

The new heads not going on for a few weeks so i'm in no rush mate.


Should i email you about the other crank pulley and other stuff?



Cheers
Mark

[Tom @ Fast Forward]

LOL. Yes. Best to send me an email with a shopping list. They fixed my ticker back to normal but my memory has been bad since I was 10 years old. LOL

[eunos1800]

You and me both mate.

I think it's not helped by all these modern appliances.

I was away with work a while ago and my battery ran flat in me mobile phone.
I picked up the office phone to call me Mrs and realised i couldn't remember me home phone number :rofl:

[Tom @ Fast Forward]

Monday I get to take a nuclear cocktail to elimante that no longer needed thyroid. Then, they say, I will remember everything but it will only last a couple days until the nuclear energy goes away. Then I will be back to 2+2=5 again. If you need to buy something, order it now while I still remember 2+2=4.3.

[pat conlon]

Typical Tom. Always most helpful. Sending good karma your way on you barium swallow...

If you mean the crank bolts, they would change from 35mm to 40mm. I have those too if you can't get them. I am tied up today but will check on spacers as soon as I can.

[Tom @ Fast Forward]

I used to work with Strontium 90, Krypton 85, cesium something or another (135?) and a couple others. Now I get Barium, cool. :-)

[Satisaii]

This is the "heaviest" thread drift ever.

[Tom @ Fast Forward]

:surrender:

Sorry. My bad. Just one of those days. But you are correct. I should be off fixing your car instead of chatting here. :)

[Satisaii]

I vote for sitting here. Much more comfortable than working on a car.

All I really need is to know is what #'s are cast on the cams... but other than the agony of waiting for a solution, it is not a real rush.

[eunos1800]

Just to keep the thread up to date.

I'll be placing an order with Tom for some other bits beside the spacers, just need to separate the bits i want to the bits i can afford this month :drool5:

Once i've ordered the stuff and it's arrived i'll update the thread in case anyone else has the same problem.


Best of luck with your nuclear cocktail Tom.
And as always thanks for the help and advise, much appreciated http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d43/cbr6fs/Smileys/thumb-up.gif



Cheers
Mark

[Godless Commie]

Would it be at all possible for you to post some pictures of how everything sits in your engine bay from a few angles?
Maybe we could come up with better ideas with some visual aids..

And Tom, I sincerely hope you leave all these behind you soon.

[eunos1800]

I've got a few pics somewhere and i'll snap some more.

Not really much to see though.


Had another good look today.
I don't think shimming the crank pulley and A/T is gonna work because they are both going to be out of line with the SC pulley then.


I tried shimming out the A/T but the belt rain along the edge of the A/T creasing it, i then rev'd the motor and the belts fist grove came off the SC pulley.

I was only shimming around 3 mm, so 1/4 would make it even worse.


So i think it's back to trying to find a smaller A/T pulley.


I'll dig some pics out and stick em up in a bit.


Cheers
Mark

[eunos1800]

Ok just snapped a few pics, as i say not much to see really.


1st one is the A/T pulley you can see how it's been rubbing and where i took off some material.
http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d43/cbr6fs/MX5/IMG_1338.jpg

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d43/cbr6fs/MX5/IMG_1342.jpg

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d43/cbr6fs/MX5/IMG_1349.jpg



Cheers
Mark

[Tom @ Fast Forward]

Yes, but I have 1/4" shims for the SC pulley I can send.

[Godless Commie]

You may well have heard this before, but a straightedge does wonders when it comes to aligning pulleys..

You are unserstandably quite frustrated by now, I am sure, but I would remove the belt, to start from square one.
I mean, rather than spending a great deal of time and frustrating yourself even further, just tackle the issue at once, and I am sure you will find the reason behind the problem.

Hell, I would even remove the radiator, too. Takes no time.

Check, and make certain that your crank pulley is installed correctly. Some require a spacer between the main crank pulley and the S/C crank pulley, some don't. Verify correct mounting. That, I think, should be your starting point.

Next, use the straightedge.. Clamp it, or even tape it if you have to on the crank pulley. Or, have a friend secure it there. Make sure all the pulleys involved are absolutely on the same plane and are absolutely parallel to each other.

Another thing to check would be the tensioner pulley itself. İt could be somewhat "fatter" in the center, but it should not be conical, at all.

My advice would be to avoid "eyeballing" anything. Measue and verify.

That's how I installed mine. My priority was the crank pulley. Once that was perfectly installed, I used it as my reference point for everything else. You could move the whole blower assembly in relation to the crank pulley.
The auto tensioner is mounted on the blower itself, and the relationship between the tensioner pulley and the blower pulley is fixed once installed on the blower. Those two should not have any alignment issues.

If I were you, I would spend an hour to remove everything I have described above, do the checks, and install it all back..

Good luck...

(Despite what you say, I still believe pics will help, btw..)

[Godless Commie]

WAIT!!

I was looking at your pics, and just had an idea..

What if you were to use a slightly shorter belt?
Wouldn't the tensioner pulley be out of the way then?

Just a thought.