Ive had problems with my accessory belt jumping off the pulleys and commiting suicide / squealing for years: https://www.rx7club.com/3rd-generati...eaking-927066/

SO, since I was tearing down the car to install a larger turbo and intercooler, I decided to fix a lot of other issues at the same time.

Here is what I did:
1. Replace accessory bracket with one from another FD
2. Replace power steering bracket with one from another FD
3. New Pettit racing idler pulley

When I started the car, the belt jumped off track at the power steering pulley:



I pulled the power steering pulley to make sure it was seated and it was fine.

I took off the Pettit idler pulley and put on a new stock pulley. Same issue.

My first question is about accessory bracket mounting. Are there supposed to be any shims / spacers between the bracket and the engine block? From what I can tell, only the mounting tab for the long oil cooler line from the engine is supposed to fit between the block and bracket:

 

I don't think that bracket goes on that side of the ps ac bracket. I think it goes to the outside.

Dale

 

^^^ can someone take a lookie see on a stockish car and see???

I looked at another car and its in the same place. Doesn't mean its right though.

I looked at the accessory bracket before I installed it and it looked like there was a place left missing from the land so that the mounting tab for the oil line could fit there.

 

Oh yeah, Dale - about turning idler pulleys around.

I have been messing with this problem for a loooong time - way longer than a sane person should. I have two different sized "pedestals" or spacers for the pulley.

The one that came originally with the car is shorter and does not allow the pulley to be reversed. It was a stock spacer I'm sure because my car was SUPER stock when I bought it. No mods at all.

I bought a new idler pulley and spacer from Atkins and noticed that the spacer is slightly taller so that it allows the idler pulley to be reversed. With this spacer, the pulley can go lip in or lip out.

Of course, now I can't even keep the belt on - I am having more than the squealing and squeaking problems Ive had for so long. At least then I could squirt Armor All on the belt and it would be quiet for a day or two.

So - over the last two or 3 years Ive tried at least all of this:

Greased the stock idler bearing
Changed the bearing in the stock idler
Replaced the pedestal for the stock idler with a taller one (dont know why there are two sizes)
Bought a NEW stock idler
Bought a NEW Pettit idler
Tried an aluminum pulley kit
went back to all stock pulleys
tried shims here and there behind pulleys
Went through at least 10 belts when the car chews them up or ejects them at high RPM
Replaced the whole accessory bracket
Replaced the AC compressor with a different one
Replaced the PS pump TWICE

**** **** **** Fuckity **** **** ****

 

That bracket looks to be in the right spot. There's no where else for it. Mine was like that on a jdm longblock I purchased and I continue to put mine there. But then again I'm having trouble with that belt as well. But I think my problem is bad idler pulley as well as the idle pulley adjustment completely stripped.

 

Ive confirmed with at least others that the oil cooler line tab is in the right place - so there is that.

 

OK, I was incorrect. I just looked at my car, the bracket for the oil cooler line goes on the stud FIRST, then the large PS/AC bracket goes on SECOND. I don't think it's even possible to go on any other way.

So, what could be the problem here?

- Too much belt tension. You should be able to take the long run of the belt and twist it around 90 degrees with it installed.

- Cheap belt. I prefer Dayco belts, I know Pep Boys has them. The Bando belts are of good quality too. I've had issues with Gates and other cheap belt brands before.

- Too much load on the belt. If one of the things the belt goes around is pulling, dragging, or sticking, that's bad. Does your AC work? The AC pulley should move VERY easily and freely with the AC disengaged, should be totally free wheeling. Power steering pulley should require very little effort to turn with the car off. Your idler pulley should be fine, since it's been replaced, but fully bolted down and with no belt on you should be able to turn it and it should spin fast and easily.

- Pullies out of alignment. If they're even a little off, that will side load the belt and kill it quickly. This you can sometimes eyeball, you can also get a piece of coat hanger wire, lay it on the pullies, and use that as a visual reference to see if it's dead straight.

- Bad front cover stack. I'm really not sure how this would work on an FD, but if your front cover stack on the engine was assembled improperly and the front needle bearing chewed up, the front main pulley will move back and forth a good amount when you hit the clutch. This could side load the belt and cause problems. Easy enough to check - with the car running, have someone push in and out the clutch. The main pulley should be dead steady through this procedure.

- Something touching the belt. I had a hose clamp touch a belt once, tore it up in NO time flat. Check for interference problems.

Oh, with the Pettit idler pulley, I did have to use a shim with mine, I think it was included with it. The belt should be riding in the middle of the pulley, not being side loaded.

Dale

 

- Too much belt tension. You should be able to take the long run of the belt and twist it around 90 degrees with it installed. Ive tried it proper, tried it kinda tight, and even kinda loose. No difference.

- Cheap belt. I prefer Dayco belts, I know Pep Boys has them. The Bando belts are of good quality too. I've had issues with Gates and other cheap belt brands before.
It has a Dayco on it now - its been used all of 5 minutes. Ive tried Gates. Ive tried the Goodyear too and they are REALLY nice but car ate it anyway.

- Too much load on the belt. If one of the things the belt goes around is pulling, dragging, or sticking, that's bad. Does your AC work? The AC pulley should move VERY easily and freely with the AC disengaged, should be totally free wheeling. Power steering pulley should require very little effort to turn with the car off. Your idler pulley should be fine, since it's been replaced, but fully bolted down and with no belt on you should be able to turn it and it should spin fast and easily.
AC has been working for a while but I did empty the system while installing my intercooler last week. I have to get the belt to stay on before I can recharge it. AC Clutch spins freely when disengaged. Power steering is nice and off very low mile car. Idler pulley - well its brand new.

- Pullies out of alignment. If they're even a little off, that will side load the belt and kill it quickly. This you can sometimes eyeball, you can also get a piece of coat hanger wire, lay it on the pullies, and use that as a visual reference to see if it's dead straight. I'm pretty sure this is the main problem now but really WTF??? There is no place to adjust them and can't figure out why they are wrong.

- Bad front cover stack. I'm really not sure how this would work on an FD, but if your front cover stack on the engine was assembled improperly and the front needle bearing chewed up, the front main pulley will move back and forth a good amount when you hit the clutch. This could side load the belt and cause problems. Easy enough to check - with the car running, have someone push in and out the clutch. The main pulley should be dead steady through this procedure.
I put this together years ago and its Kool and the Gang.

- Something touching the belt. I had a hose clamp touch a belt once, tore it up in NO time flat. Check for interference problems. No.

Oh, with the Pettit idler pulley, I did have to use a shim with mine, I think it was included with it. The belt should be riding in the middle of the pulley, not being side loaded. I want to solve the main problem before I end up tearing up my new pulley.

 

The alternator-PS bracket, is that one bracket that has the oil cooler line on it the ONLY thing that's between the bracket and the block? There's another bracket that holds part of the wiring harness and the engine ground that goes around 2 of the studs at the back of that bracket, that goes on after the bracket - 100% on this. If that bracket is misaligned that could cause a problem.

I know you said you built the motor and it isn't a front stack issue, but humor us all and do the clutch in-clutch out test. Takes 10 seconds and you can cross that one off the list.

Front pulley looks kind of rusty, is it? If it's really rusty and rough that can (in theory) eat into the belt. You may want to post some more pics up of the belt and the pullies so I can see what all is going on.

Also, I assume the alternator/water pump pulley belt is fine and hasn't had any issues?

Dale

 

Stack is bueno. I tested it with the redneck across the street eyeballing the pulley.

Pulleys are clean. I just got done pressure washing the engine and shiny surfaces get a little surface rust - like brake rotors on a car that sits outside on a rainy day.

The alternator / water pump belt has been fine for years.

SO, I added a copper crush washer behind the power steering pulley. Belt does not eject itself or squeak... yet.

Its a new belt and I haven't revved the **** out of it yet either. When I finish my turbo project and tune, then I will see.

 

I'm wondering if something is up with the PS pulley or how the PS pump is mounted. It makes sense, in the first pic it looks like the belt is coming off the front of the pulley, like either the pump is too far back or the pulley is messed up.

I don't think it's possible to install the PS pulley backwards, and I'm not sure what could be done to mount the pump wrong. The pump has the 3 bolts just behind the pulley and another one hidden down low that hold it to the bracket.

Might want to put up a few pics of the PS pump and I can look and see if something looks wrong.

Dale

 

When my stock engine lost the rear oil cooler jet just after turning 4 years old (1996), I purchase a rebuilt shortblock and installed it.
The mods I had at the time were DP, MP, cat-back, Greddy SMIC, and underdrive main pulley.

My engine immediately starting doing the exact same thing (throwing or cutting the A/C belt) with only the block change.
Checked everything and all was installed correctly. Taking measurements of the pulley/belt setup showed that somehow the power steering
pulley was about 1/16" back to far. I made a spacer washer to put on the power steering shaft to move the pulley forward.

That solved the problem then and even with my third engine was installed in 1999.
Maybe the early 1992 made engine brackets are different?

 

After looking at my car, it looks like your PS pulley does seem farther back than what it's supposed to be. I think Chuck may be on to something here.

There's some variance in parts going on, either in the bracket or the pump.

Dale

 

Talk about variance in these parts:

Dale, a few years ago you posted to flip the idler around to stop a squeak but I could not.

Check out two different stock idler pulley spacers:

The small one came stock on my car, the taller one new from Mazda.