Hello,
Carried out a few jobs on my FD today, fitted some new door handles and done an oil change following the how to on here and went really well until i started it up and left it running for a bit, started making some funny noises, popped the bonnet and bits of belt flying about. Shut down the engine, and basically the alternator belt was like spagetti haha, lucky it happened at home and not on the road.
The problem is that im trying to get the new alternator belt on but its just too tight. Ive slackened the alternator off as much as possbile, but it just wont go on. Anyone got any tips? its a brand new gates belt from rotary art, and ive got a new power steering belt to gon on after.
Another issue ive got, is that i ordered up a set of spark plugs with the oil, and other servicing items. When opening the parcel this morning, the spark plugs are completely soaked in oil that leaked from the oil container during transit. They are proper soaked in oil, will the be ok if i just clean them up with a rag?
cheers guys, hope you can help me out ! :confused:
Off hand I would have said the belt was too wide,
Compare the amount of ribs on the belt
Hope this helps
cheers for quick reply, thickness of belt seems fine on all the pulleys, just cant get the belt onto all the pulleys if you get what i mean, i get the belt set up on all the pullys apart from alternator and it wont reach the alternator pulley. Theres no much in it mind, just need to stretch the belt a little or something.
Sounds like you have just plain the wrong belt,
Even if you get the belt on don\'t use the car because if this belt is too tight it will kill the power steering pump,
At the belts longest part you should be able to easily turn the belt through 90 degrees
ok mate, i think ill give rotary art a call tomorrow.
The belts ive got are:
RotaryArt Belt for Mazda RX7 1 £12.00 £12.00
FD Alternator
RotaryArt Belt for Mazda RX7 1 £12.00 £12.00
FD Power Steering with Air
Con
my FD3S is completely standard with aircon and power steering. Also, do you think the plugs will be ok to use?
Before you fit your new belt you might wanna check that your airpump isnt siezed causing it to eat belts. You may have slackened off the alternator but did you also slacken off the airpump?
interesting point? is the air pump the aircon pump? all i can see thats involved with the alternator belt is the following:
crank pully
air con pump
idler pulley
alternator
alternator is free, idler is free, and air con pump is free for movement, obviously the crank pulley isnt free moving.
is this all right?
just re read your post Jit, you mean slack off the air con pump? how do i do this? as on the alternator belt, it seems to only be the alternator that has a tensioning adjust on it
No the airpump is not the same as the aircon pump. Do you not have an airpump fitted? Its to the left of the water filler neck sort of above the turbos. The alternator belt should go from alternator to crank pulley to airpump to waterpump and back to the alternator. Aircon pump and PAS pump are on a separate belt.
ok, ill take a look tomorrow, im probably getting confussed between airpump / aircon pump, kind of obvious when looking at the belts i bought and one of them is for power steering / aircon (stupid me). belt goes, alternator - crank pulley - air pump - waterpump (thought it was just idler pulley as it works of the back of the belt, not the ribbed bit), then back to alternator.
theres not much in it, it literally seems like the belt needs a couple off mm more in length. or it might be my weedy arms not being strong enough to slip it onto the waterpump once the belt is set on the other pulleys.
I reckon if youve got an airpump then you just need to drop off the tension on it.
sorry to sound stupid, how do you do that? remove the bolt (near to the water filler neck)? as im not at the car, i cant think how it is. If you could explain it to me then i can have a go tomorrow. Really appreciating you help mate.
Yes theres a bracket to the left of the water filler neck as you look at it. Loosen off the nut on the bracket. I think you also have to loosen off the top bolt for the airpump thru the waterpump housing and then tilt the airpump towards the water filler.
ok mate, ill give that a go tomorrow and let you know how i get on, cheers mate !
I had the same short belt issue on the drifter but when I looked at the alternator, I seen that there was more movement to be had but it had stopped moving cause of rust round the fixing pivot. Out with the rubber mallet and wd40, quick spray and a few good slaps and the she moved on down and gave me the room I needed. Hope that helps
Quote from: leefitz;736393I had the same short belt issue on the drifter but when I looked at the alternator, I seen that there was more movement to be had but it had stopped moving cause of rust round the fixing pivot. Out with the rubber mallet and wd40, quick spray and a few good slaps and the she moved on down and gave me the room I needed. Hope that helps
Thread Hijack,
Leefitz, drop me an email on dale[dot]pluthero[at]gmail[dot]com, i am a fellow sideways sport junkie and would be interested in discussing specific mods for the FD, thanks
Dale
Oh and P44CKO hope you got your belt on !!
Cheers leefitz, ill check that out too with the alternator, if i can get it drop another 2 - 3 mm, ill be sorted. The tensioner bracket gives the impression that the alternator could drop a few mm, ill give it a go in the morning!
All sorted now, belts on and all running. I ended up taking out the alternator pivot bolt to allow more adjustment. Then once belt was on fiddled with alternator till the pivot bolt refitted ok.
All thats left for my activities tomorrow is spark plugs change and fuel filter change, am expecting nightmares doing both! haha.
Cars running lovely now, seems much smoother with the oil change, when emptying old oil, it definately seemed more runny than the new stuff, must have been a lower viscosity rating. New stuff i put in was the rotechnics 10w-40 mineral stuff.