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SDCE Spring Tensioner... It works!

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Old 07-25-2004, 10:50 PM
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Default SDCE Spring Tensioner... It works!

Flat out, there's no other way to say it. This system works and works well. A little bit of a pain to get initially setup, but I got her done on Friday and have had a smile plastered on my face ever since then.

I've already "accidentally" hit 10 psi and was not at WOT/full RPM. Scary stuff... Now I just got to beef up the fuel system and get those low compression heads on and I'll be good to go.

Mike
Old 07-25-2004, 10:57 PM
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What were you seeing boost wise before Mike? What do you want to see? What size blower pulley?
Whats your tensioner set at?
Kyle
Old 07-26-2004, 01:51 AM
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Good to see we got another one up and running, this stuff is for sure the way to go with the big boost, I want to hit around 17-18psi eventually, I think it can be done......

I'm only at 11 right now
Old 07-26-2004, 04:51 AM
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good to hear that it works.
i've been seeing 11-12 psi before with the solid tensioner, i wonder how much i could squeeze out of it now.
Old 07-26-2004, 08:47 AM
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Originally Posted by NA$TY-TA
What were you seeing boost wise before Mike? What do you want to see? What size blower pulley?
Whats your tensioner set at?
Kyle
I was seeing 5 psi on an 8 psi pully on the old 6 rib ATI pully setup. I'm trying to hit ~11 psi but it looks like this pully is good for maybe 12-13 psi when its all said and done. I have the 3.7 pully and it's currently set to 15 lbs on the tensioner.

I think if Scott could design the piping to use his tensioner with a FMIC he'd have a killer package on his hands. Comes with a D1 with F1 upgrade options. It would be the real "tuner kit".

Mike
Old 07-26-2004, 09:13 AM
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Heck yeah...... i dont know what boost im seeing yet...... i have to put 100 more miles on the car and then i can nail it and we will see....... im running the 3.7 pulley also.
My FMIC should be here in the next couple of weeks so we will see if i get a boost increase and if i need to i will step up the the 3.4 pulley or a 3.2 pulley. When you getting your heads? What cam?
Kyle
Old 07-26-2004, 12:41 PM
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buschman

Do you have any pointers for installing the SDCE tensioner set-up?

I recceived my 8-rib tensioner set-up on Friday, but I am still waiting for my ATI damper to come in this week.

I was looking at the instructions, and they say to install the bracket and then a few steps later it says to install the belt. I don't think the belt will go on after the bracket is install . Wouldn't one of the stand-offs be in the way?

Thanks,
James
Old 07-26-2004, 12:42 PM
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Originally Posted by buschman
Flat out, there's no other way to say it. This system works and works well. A little bit of a pain to get initially setup, but I got her done on Friday and have had a smile plastered on my face ever since then.

I've already "accidentally" hit 10 psi and was not at WOT/full RPM. Scary stuff... Now I just got to beef up the fuel system and get those low compression heads on and I'll be good to go.

Mike
Do you have any pictures of the install.

Thanks
Old 07-26-2004, 01:26 PM
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You have to route the belt before you tighten the bracket down, it won't go on if you have the bracket on, take your time with it, print out the instructions so you can look at it when your doing it
Old 07-26-2004, 02:43 PM
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Originally Posted by bomax
It took me a little while and a call to Scott at SDCE but I finally got it on there! Now I am battling a crank pulley issue -- it sticks out about 1/2" too far so the belt doesn't line up.
What crank set-up are you running, stock or ATI?
Old 07-26-2004, 03:07 PM
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The crank pulley will look like it sits out too far
Old 07-26-2004, 03:57 PM
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Yes, there are shims provided in the kit
Old 07-26-2004, 04:17 PM
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I'll have mine on this weekend with a 3.4 pulley....I post when I get some results.....I may be somewhat limited by my tuning, we'll see.

Mark
Old 07-26-2004, 05:40 PM
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yes 2 shims per standoff with the SD setup.
Old 07-26-2004, 05:41 PM
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2 of the thick ones that is.
Old 07-26-2004, 06:12 PM
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I had to do 3 shims with mine with the Steel bracket......... My crank bolt sucked mine in more but there was still a gap..... Me, FRCFED, and BOS talked about this when we did it. Make sure you set your tension before you put the head unit on.
Kyle
Old 07-26-2004, 08:01 PM
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Your bracket was probably misaligned....I know I used 3 big plus one small for each
Old 07-27-2004, 01:27 AM
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Originally Posted by Bryan Wilkinson
Do you have any pictures of the install.

Thanks
The only pics I have are of the first attempt I had at running the setup. I didn't properly install my belt on the tensioner and it sheered off two ribs in seconds. I sent the pics to Scott to find out what happened. Thanks to Scott and Wendy for helping me out. But I don't think those are the kinds of pics you were looking for. If you want on car pics, let me know and I'll take some for you.

Originally Posted by IRVINEWS6
buschman

Do you have any pointers for installing the SDCE tensioner set-up?

I recceived my 8-rib tensioner set-up on Friday, but I am still waiting for my ATI damper to come in this week.

I was looking at the instructions, and they say to install the bracket and then a few steps later it says to install the belt. I don't think the belt will go on after the bracket is install . Wouldn't one of the stand-offs be in the way?

Thanks,
James

The belt definitely has to be routed before the bracket is installed. I used one of the thick washers(.125) and Lowes Speed Shop stand washer that's somewhere between the thick(.125) and thin(.0625) washers. One thick and one medium on each standoff.

I also made a custom tool to help install this setup on my own. Basically I took an old BMX bike seat shaft(complete with mushroom grip if you guys remember those ) that I use to get leverage and then I took a 1/2 wrench and cut the open ended side off so that only the closed end and shaft were left. Then you can put the 1/2 wrench on Scott's special tool pull it down a little bit by hand, just enough so you can slip the bike seat shaft over the wrench. Then it's easy to pull the spring tensioner to max tension with one hand and slip the belt over the crank pully with the other.

If you plan to pin the crack, do so on the stock harmonic balencer first while it's on the car. ATI was very careful to NOT give me any instructions and I would have really messed stuff up if I didn't speak to Scott first. He mentioned that if you try and pin the crank with the ATI dampener on the drill bit will walk into the already existing square cut key. So what I did was key crank with stock harmonic balencer. Then take the pin kit and drill out the ATI dampener off the car. it's not easy but you can do it. Then take a stone grinding bit and help round out and even out the square key hole. Just use the dowel pin and some sunlight to see if it bottoms out all the way down the shaft.

I had more difficulty with the ATI dampener install than I did with the pully setup. I had trouble getting the stock harmonic balencer off till I realized there is an inner lip that the pully puller can grab onto and pull it off. You got to do it in stages also. Loosen the crank bolt out just a few threads. Enough so there is a slight space. Then use the puller to crack the thing loose. Once it starts to move it's much easier to get off.

Getting the new dampener wasn't all that bad. Boil the hub for 10 minutes and then, with the key lined up, install the hub. If you have the A/C pully that has to go on with the hub(make sure it's facing the right direction). Scott suggested getting a pully installation tool. I didn't have one which makes getting the sucker on a tad bit tougher.

Install the bracket first with the blower but not the tensioner or belt. Take a ruler or any straight edge and make sure it come to a point. Use that point to line up which rib on the s/c it points to. You want it to point to the same rib on the crank pully. You can't change where the blower, tensioner, and idler line up to each other. But using the washer you can change where those three line up with the crank pully. Get this as dead on if you want good boost and long belt life.

Once you get the alignment right take the blower and bracket off. Route the belt, reinstall the bracket, and put the spring tensioner on. Using Scott's special tool preload the spring to like ~7 lbs.

Install the blower back on and route the belt on the s/c pully, idler, and tensioner. Leave the crank pully off.

Either using a friend or the tool I described(or some tool of your own) pull the tensioner to the max and you should have just enough room to get the belt on.

I can tell you from experience, triple check your routing to make sure everything is on and properly lined up. The tensioner pully is 6 ribs, so the outer edges of the 8 rib belt should be evenly extended past the pully.

Fire it up and get ready to feel the same feeling the first time you drove you're blown car. It really is like fallin in love with the car all over again.

Hope this helps,
Mike
Old 07-27-2004, 06:44 AM
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What I did was set preload to 7, put the blower back on, got the belt routed around everything but the crank pulley, I took a wrench and pushed the spring tensioner pulley back in the opposite direction to get some slack and then the belt easily slipped over the crank pulley.....

This is what kyle NASTY-TA told me to do and it worked
Old 07-27-2004, 11:51 AM
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Originally Posted by BIGBOS
What I did was set preload to 7, put the blower back on, got the belt routed around everything but the crank pulley, I took a wrench and pushed the spring tensioner pulley back in the opposite direction to get some slack and then the belt easily slipped over the crank pulley.....

This is what kyle NASTY-TA told me to do and it worked
I was just going to say that Brian........... be careful because that will loosen the nut on the idler if you wrench on it to hard. Be nice and slow with one hand....... i belive its a 13mm and use your left hand to slowly put the belt onto the crank and slowly ease the idler back into place.... here are some pics..... not sure if these are what your lookig for











Hope that helped.
Kyle


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