I've been dealing with this problem for too damn long and I'm finally sick and tired of it. I don't mind replacing belts, I hate it because I have to retime my cams every time and it takes me (on average) 4 tries to get them correct, and this is going by notes I take each time. I'm sick and tired of this crap; every ~10,000 I put a new belt on and have to dick with this timing crap. Car has 185,xxx (first new belt was @ ~90,000). so you get the idea of why I'm pissed at it.
I've had the GC idler on the car for the last little over year and for the most part it did what I bought it to do; help slow the eating of my belt. Unfortunately the pulley shit the bed. I had to replace the bearing the second week I had the thing. It was then I'd noticed the fit to be loose, but I went with it. Well that loose fit finally did the pulley in, galvanic corrosion and the loose has become measurable gap.
I don't want to hear anything about belt tension. It's perfect. And even if it wasn't I think I've tried adjusting things enough over the years that I should have found a sweet spot at least once. Nope. Also there is no difference I can tell in how fast or slow it eats away.
I don't want to hear anything about pulley alignment or ware. The last belt was installed with every pulley (minus the GC one) brand new,,, CFM cam gears, new Ford tensioner, new Ford drive pulley, new Ford lower idler. Alignment was checked with a laser and everything was true.
I'm pretty good at figuring most things out, but this one just has me utterly baffled. Nothing I've tried has stopped it or slowed it down, and nothing I can find explains why the belt is walking off. It's like the car just wants me to burn it down.
Only idea I have is to get custom pulleys made like the GC one. But add more of a lip to it. But I know that just 1 won't make much difference. I'll have to, or really should, have 3 of them,,, that means I'll have to have a custom tensioner made (awesome [mad]).
Or, is there any way to swap it over to a chain?
I could rig up a oil spray for the chain pretty easily, just a oil jet in one of the plugs in the head outta work sorta. Bridge when there deal though.
*edit
k, so I'm sitting here thinking about this and I think I've come up with a reasonable and viable solution:
Have a 'shim' made to fit the drive gear. If it tapers up to the crank dampener and fits over the drive gear ~1/16" it should move the entire belt over enough so that it rides true again.
Near as I'm figuring I have to attack this from the bottom up. If I get and keep the bottom true then everything thereafter should follow suit.
Plus this should be the quickest and cheapest fix, being it's essentially a big tapered bushing.
I'll try and get it drawn up tomorrow and off to my neighbors shop to be CNC'd. It'll be steel simply because then I don't have to worry about the belt eating it if it does rub.
**edit
Well that idea died real fast.
Just went out and test fit a brand new belt to an old drive gear. There is no side play, or not enough for any type of 'shim' to fit.
So now I'm wondering if my drive gear is back far enough. Just did the belt a day ago and checked it and it sure looked like it fit back far enough, least it wouldn't go back any further than it did (crank dampener reads "front" on the back side, meaning it fits the drive gear nice and tight). Maybe the key isn't quite straight or something ... have to pull it apart and see I guess. Kinda doubting I find anything wrong though. Wasn't any play so i can't imagine anything's FUBAR.
And i guess long as I have to get back in there I may as well flip the DG so the washer fits the outside and see what happens. That outta push it in 1/16". Just hope to hell it doesn't dive in or shit's really gonna go wrong, buh-bye crank seal/oil pump.
I've had the GC idler on the car for the last little over year and for the most part it did what I bought it to do; help slow the eating of my belt. Unfortunately the pulley shit the bed. I had to replace the bearing the second week I had the thing. It was then I'd noticed the fit to be loose, but I went with it. Well that loose fit finally did the pulley in, galvanic corrosion and the loose has become measurable gap.
I don't want to hear anything about belt tension. It's perfect. And even if it wasn't I think I've tried adjusting things enough over the years that I should have found a sweet spot at least once. Nope. Also there is no difference I can tell in how fast or slow it eats away.
I don't want to hear anything about pulley alignment or ware. The last belt was installed with every pulley (minus the GC one) brand new,,, CFM cam gears, new Ford tensioner, new Ford drive pulley, new Ford lower idler. Alignment was checked with a laser and everything was true.
I'm pretty good at figuring most things out, but this one just has me utterly baffled. Nothing I've tried has stopped it or slowed it down, and nothing I can find explains why the belt is walking off. It's like the car just wants me to burn it down.
Only idea I have is to get custom pulleys made like the GC one. But add more of a lip to it. But I know that just 1 won't make much difference. I'll have to, or really should, have 3 of them,,, that means I'll have to have a custom tensioner made (awesome [mad]).
Or, is there any way to swap it over to a chain?
I could rig up a oil spray for the chain pretty easily, just a oil jet in one of the plugs in the head outta work sorta. Bridge when there deal though.
*edit
k, so I'm sitting here thinking about this and I think I've come up with a reasonable and viable solution:
Have a 'shim' made to fit the drive gear. If it tapers up to the crank dampener and fits over the drive gear ~1/16" it should move the entire belt over enough so that it rides true again.
Near as I'm figuring I have to attack this from the bottom up. If I get and keep the bottom true then everything thereafter should follow suit.
Plus this should be the quickest and cheapest fix, being it's essentially a big tapered bushing.
I'll try and get it drawn up tomorrow and off to my neighbors shop to be CNC'd. It'll be steel simply because then I don't have to worry about the belt eating it if it does rub.
**edit
Well that idea died real fast.
Just went out and test fit a brand new belt to an old drive gear. There is no side play, or not enough for any type of 'shim' to fit.
So now I'm wondering if my drive gear is back far enough. Just did the belt a day ago and checked it and it sure looked like it fit back far enough, least it wouldn't go back any further than it did (crank dampener reads "front" on the back side, meaning it fits the drive gear nice and tight). Maybe the key isn't quite straight or something ... have to pull it apart and see I guess. Kinda doubting I find anything wrong though. Wasn't any play so i can't imagine anything's FUBAR.
And i guess long as I have to get back in there I may as well flip the DG so the washer fits the outside and see what happens. That outta push it in 1/16". Just hope to hell it doesn't dive in or shit's really gonna go wrong, buh-bye crank seal/oil pump.