Belt Tensioner question- fixed or spring loaded?
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Launching!
Joined: Feb 2008
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Belt Tensioner question- fixed or spring loaded? Hi there. I was just curious what the preferred method of supercharger belt tensioner is. I had a fixed one on my fox body mustang. All of my corvette kits have been spring loaded. Once you get to the decent sized blowers (in my case the vortech ysi), is there a preference on what direction to go or are they all spring loaded? I'm talking with an 8 rib belt also. Thanks!
Spring loaded all the way. Fact is, as the rpms go up, the belt will stretch. Now, with a static tensioner, as the belt stretches the amount of tension on the belt goes down, and the chances of it slipping go up. Once it starts to slip, it gets hot, and then degrades the belt, and allow it to stretch even more. So then you crank down on the tensioner more and more which is not good for main bearings, or any of the shared accessories.
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From: Norn Iron
Belts stretch by huge amounts.
A good strong sprung tensioner is essential.
You can get a fixed setup to work fairly well...but you need to massively overtension the belt in the first place, to try and maintain tension after it stretches. Counterproductive..
Although if it's a relatively low powered build and good belt width, pulley wrap etc you'd get away with a manual setup
A good strong sprung tensioner is essential.
You can get a fixed setup to work fairly well...but you need to massively overtension the belt in the first place, to try and maintain tension after it stretches. Counterproductive..
Although if it's a relatively low powered build and good belt width, pulley wrap etc you'd get away with a manual setup
