Tight Belt is Important!

Well I finally got around to changing the stock idlers over to the Billetflow units, gorgeous pieces BTW... first rate quality. Anyway the bigger 100mm idlers made my belt fit quite a bit tighter than before. In fact I had to get my buddy to come hold the tensioner while I muscled it back on. Well I noticed the car was running really strong and it looks like I picked up at least 1/2lb of peak boost! :burnout:

WTF, did anyone think it was even possible to have slip on a stock upper using just a lower?? I'm sure mine must have been slipping just a bit but I had always thought my belt size was perfect... guess not. I'm going to be moving over to the tight belt camp.

Kills bearings too enjoy.

Yeah.,., don't make it too tight

Tractionless1 said:

Kills bearings too enjoy.

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x2

Tractionless1 said:

Kills bearings too

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Which bearings?? The idlers, blower or alt?

Tractionless1 said:

Kills bearings too enjoy.

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What a buzzkill, lol.

Actually based on previous discussion on the tensioner a smaller belt doesn't equal a tighter belt, the tension is the same even with a smaller belt. I don't agree with the arguement but if someone could elaborate on it or give their .02 I would appreciate it. Let me see if I can find the thread

Josh

About2bite said:

Actually based on previous discussion on the tensioner a smaller belt doesn't equal a tighter belt, the tension is the same even with a smaller belt.

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Well it would if the tensioner was opened up to or very close to the stop point... plus I'm sure there's a bit more tension the more you open it up. I'm gonna check this over again and see how close I am. I'm quite sure that it's not sitting on the stop though, so I can't really see how it could hurt anything.

jmproductions said:

plus I'm sure there's a bit more tension the more you open it up.

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I agree

Here is the thread I was referring to:
http://www.svtperformance.com/forums/showthread.php?t=471350&highlight=belt+tension

It's toward the end of the thread.

About2bite said:

Here is the thread I was referring to:
http://www.svtperformance.com/forums/showthread.php?t=471350&highlight=belt+tension

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Thanks for the link. I don't think that the poster in that thread just checking the slack and then just assuming the tension was the same was very scientific. Bottom line is that for some reason I have more boost now. It could be that the pulley has SLIGHTLY better belt wrap now from the larger idlers. I'm just surprised that a stock upper would slip under any circumstance.

Anyway I checked the tensioner and there's actually quite a bit of room before the stop because I had notched it a while back.

A Tight belt is good.

An Overly Tight belt is bad.

And yes, I do "think it was even possible to have slip on a stock upper using just a lower".

But it's hard to tell people that when they have heard from day one that if "you keep the stock SC pulley and just put a lower on , you won't get belt slip."

:smmon: see :smmon: do

blackvenom77 said:

What a buzzkill, lol.

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Life isn't all strawberry shortcake, puppies, and ponies. At some point reality will kick in!!

Overly tight will cause accelarated wear on pulley, blower, alt., and possibly crank bearings.

Wow man, I was just joking. :dw:

I always went by keeping the tensioner right in the middle.

Haven't had a problem living by that.

dougwg said:

An Overly Tight belt is bad.

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Tractionless1 said:

Overly tight will cause accelarated wear on pulley, blower, alt., and possibly crank bearings.

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I guess my question is this, how would you even get a belt on that had the tensioner opened all the way up to the stop? Describe the characteristics of an overly tight belt please.

MustangThief said:

I always went by keeping the tensioner right in the middle.

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That's where mine was before but I'm sure you won't have any problems as long as you have an aux idler.

Stock Belt Tensioner

The stock belt tensioner is also a "weak link", ........ I went with the Reichard Racing Spring Loaded Tensioner and all BilletFlow Pullies and have never looked back.

http://www.reichardracing.com/mustang_manual_tensionser.php

JymBart

jmproductions said:

I guess my question is this, how would you even get a belt on that had the tensioner opened all the way up to the stop? Describe the characteristics of an overly tight belt please.That's where mine was before but I'm sure you won't have any problems as long as you have an aux idler.

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Grind the stop off.

Tractionless1 said:

Grind the stop off.

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I think you misunderstood my question. My tensioner already has the OEM stop removed.

My question is for anyone who can answer it:

How would you install a belt that was so short the tensioner would be opened all the way up, thereby the amount of force on the belt would be more than the force of the sprung arm in the tensioner?? Because this would be the only circumstance under which I would consider a belt to be too tight using the OEM tensioner. Anything less than that and the belt slack is still being regulated by the spring in the tensioner.

Is anyone following me here because even though my belt was difficult to get on, once it was installed and settled, the tensioner was still well within it's range of motion.

jmproductions said:

How would you install a belt that was so short the tensioner would be opened all the way up, thereby the amount of force on the belt would be more than the force of the sprung arm in the tensioner?? Because this would be the only circumstance under which I would consider a belt to be too tight using the OEM tensioner. Anything less than that and the belt slack is still being regulated by the spring in the tensioner.

Is anyone following me here because even though my belt was difficult to get on, once it was installed and settled, the tensioner was still well within it's range of motion.

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It's really a pretty basic idea.

The smaller the belt you put on the car, the tighter the belt is going to be. According to me and you since you agreed with me earlier as to the tension being more if the tensioner is pulled back further by the belt. So the issue is that if the belt is too small and the tensioner is putting more tension on the belt than necessary it could cause damage to the bearings, keep in mind most people notch the tensioner which allows more force on the belt from the tensioner which is where people run into these issues with bearings going etc.

Just because your tensioner was still in its range of motion doesn't mean there is not more force being put on the belt than necessary, not to sound like a hypocrite I have a very tight belt on mine too and notched the tensioner as well to get it on there. I am more worried about my tensioner going out more so than anything.

Josh