Belt tensioner 1st type - how does it work? Am i to stupid?

[Christian_K]

Hi, today i added the belt to the engine, making it finally more or less ready to be married with the car... but there are problems.
So i installed the belt tensioner like described in the WIS, ohh btw and before that, i tested it and it works, whenever i bent it for 30° into one direction, it snaps right back into middle pos. So far so good.
There is this threaded rod with some sort of long "nut" attached on it and the "nut" looks out of the steering-pump brackets "double-hole". So i noticed when you turn the nur right, nothing happens, the nut will just pop-off completely from the threaded rod. When i turn it "left" it tightens, but it will eventually slide into the bigger opening of the two in the steering-pump bracket, completely until you cant turn it anymore... still no movement from the tensioner...

So at first i couldn't get the belt on because it was all to tight... i then put a big "drill" in the bigger hole of the pumps-bracket so i could turn the nut left. So i turned it and the belt tensioner was moving left (getting loose) and i could install the belt properly.... But how in the word can i tighten it, so that the belt tensioner is moving "right"??? I dont get it.

Here are the pictures how it looks now after the belt was installed. Please not that the belt is still way to loose now, when i turn the crank, the belt will just slide and not turn any other aggregates.
I must be able to tighten it... heeeeelp

 

[gsxr]

Re: Belt tensioner 1st type - how does it work? Am i to stup

Disclaimer: I really, really dislike the manual belt tensioner, which was used through model year 1992. Terrible design. Anyway:

The tensioner should tighten the belt as the threaded rod moves downward. So when you turn the left-hand-thread nut clockwise, this pushes the rod down, tightening the belt (make sure the center bolt is loose). Tighten until the pointer moves from the position shown in your photo, to about the second line (of the four) to the right. Don't over-tighten or the tensioner can be destroyed very quickly.

The threaded rod and the round/slotted piece attached only fits one way, don't reverse this piece - it will fit backwards, but it won't be correct. Also, I have seen tensioners that still have torsion and pass the factory test, but are out of the proper position, so the threaded rod almost falls out of the adjusting nut when set to correct tension. There's no fix except to replace the tensioner with a new one. I discovered this by accident when replacing an old/used one that hadn't failed yet.

You are lucky that your car has the proper late-style timing cover, which is needed to retrofit the automatic belt tensioner. However this also requires the late style AC bracket, and replacing all the pulleys, as the auto tensioner only works with the 6-rib belt. Not exactly an easy swap...!




EDIT: Click here for the FSM procedure, job # 13-3420. Additional info here.