BajaDan

iTrader: (2)

Thats two out of two with the auto tensioner and no dust. Good enough for me. I'm going to try it. At the very least it will take the guess work out of setting the belt tension. Looks like $135 for the parts. No need to replace the alternator bracket, pulleys etc.

Downtime270, I can only envy your bilge space.

Dan

GAZ

I think the green belt you are referring to is a Gates green stripe belt. They are very good they have the extra grooves in them for better grip. I run one on a super charged Mustang and it hangs in there very well.

downtime270

Dan -

Thanks for the engineering on this upgrade!...That's a big help. Maybe this upgrade with the combined Dayco Belt will eliminate this mess.

Regarding my Bilge...While it is big...I spent many years laying / hanging my head way down, on my sundancer working on my motor...It was nothing more than SUCKY!...Now - I just hop in...and can pretty much get to things relativey easy as far as working on boats go...Of course I went from a 27' to a 36'...so it was a bit of an upgrade..LOL When I unwrap - I'll post some pics....I was blown away the first time I saw it...

BajaDan

iTrader: (2)

If I knew then what I know now....

Most Mercruiser maintenace is performed from the front of the engine (well, back actually but facing forward on a stern drive application). The first thing I look at on my next potential boat will be space in front of the engine. If it doesn't have a minumum of 8-12 inches, I'm moving on. It's enough to make you consider outboards.

Dan

BajaDan

iTrader: (2)

Looks like you will also need a new pulley (865777) and the bolt that goes in it (10-40108 20) bringing the total cost up to about $155 or $160. I originally thought you could use the same pulley, but it contacts the tensioner. The new bolt is a 20 mm bolt and the old bolt is 16mm.

So we still don't know if this will help the problem, but I guess we are going to find out.

Attached are a couple of pictures showing the differences in the seapump mounts.

Dan

BajaDan

iTrader: (2)

I was installing the new belt last night (the automatic tensioner bolted right up) and was struck again about how close the long top run of the belt comes to the circulating water pump pulley and belt. It misses it by less than 1/4 inch. This long run probably vibrates quite a bit during operation. It is easily concievable that the belt hits itself while running.

This may be the source of the belt dust on non automatic tensioned engines. The belt did not seem any tighter with the automatic tensioner installed than it was with me adjusting it manually.

If you look at the Ralar link below, notice that all the pulley's appear to be in the same location as the manual adjustment engines. The belt is just run on a different route. Compare that to the manual adjustment engine shown in the other video (Thanks Keith Atlanta). It could be that the lack of belt dust on the auto tensioned engines is due to the different routing that eliminates the low clearance between the top belt run and the water pump. I may have wasted $150 when all I needed to do is re-route the belt according to the new route. I'm going to try it tonight and see if the adjustable alternator mount allows this new routing. If not, I am going to try to source a larger top grooved idler pulley to increase the belt clearance over the circulating pump pulley.

If it is just a routing and new belt issue (it will almost definately require a different length belt) this could be cheap fix to the belt dust problem. Worst case is that you would need the full auto tensioner conversion which would necessitate a new alternator bracket in addition to parts mentioned before.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hx0-...=6&feature=plcp

http://www.raylarengine.com/packages.html


Part list reprint for your convenience.

Tensioner Bracket 865596T01 - $59
Tensioner 865597T - $67
Bolts (2) 10-885526 30 - $3
Pulley 865777 - $22
Bolt 10-40108 20 - $2

blownhammer2000

iTrader: (1)

i'm pretty sure the pulley setup is slightly different, the position of the idler pulley below the alternator is what seems to change everything

BajaDan

iTrader: (2)

Yes, you are correct. I tried this last night. If you run the auto tensioner belt routing using the adjustable alternator mount, the idler pulley between the ps pump and the alt is in the way. I even tried the smallest idler I could find (70mm) but that did not move it out of the way enough.

The alternate solution, to use the existing belt routing but with a larger idler pulley (top idler on the sea pump / tensioner mount) looked to be a good idea and may still be. I found a 109mm pulley that would allow good clearance between belt and circulation pump, but that pulley has a very slight, but significant, interference with the dipstick mount. Of course I could just spend the additional $60 for the new alternator mount. I guess I would if it was easier to get to and install and may anyway.

Dan

SDFever

Here's a list that is all-inclusive to my knowledge if you care; it's been discussed before but no parts or pricing was ever posted. It's around 300 bucks plus freight.

• 865596T01 BRACKET, Idler Pulley $72.05
• 865597T TENSIONER, Belt $90.31
• 865777 PULLEY, Idler, Non-Grooved $29.13
• 10-4010820 SCREW, (M10 x 20) Hex Flange - Stainless Steel $3.13 QTY 2
• 10-88552630 SCREW, (M8 x 30) $2.64 QTY 2 or 1 pack of 2..
• 865594T01 BRACKET, Alternator $60.20
• 11-401368 NUT, (M8) Stainless Steel $3.42
• 10-40108120 SCREW, (M10 x 120) Hex Flange - Stainless Steel $8.98
• 10-4010835 SCREW, (M10 x 35) Hex Flange - Stainless Steel $4.78
• 10-88552660 SCREW, (M8 x 60) $2.93
• 10-824459110 SCREW, (M8 x 110) Stainless Steel $10.34

zemaestro

Old thread revival. I am going through this right now, but in order to use the updated (fixed) altenator mounting position, I had to mill off part of the power steering bracket because it wouldn't allow me to install the new alt bracket. So did you guys replace the power steering pump bracket as well? Because the idler pulley on the PS bracket sits too high causing the belt to touch on its way from alt to engine water pump...UGH. I can use the old routing but will need something longer than the 111.25" belt. I believe the new tensioned engines use a 99 inch belt