Guys,
there is a guy Dan in the group buy center that put together an airpump deletion idler pulley kit for a 3rd gen. This makes it so that you don't lose the belt contact with the water pump....sound familiar?? Anyway I talked to him about perhaps making this available for a 1stgen configuration. He said that he would definately look into it if he had enough people interested in it. I agreed to see what kind of interest we could get going on this. I will keep a list and as soon as I know anything from Dan I will keep everyone posted.

So far:
1. Bteets9914
2. Bteets9914

He put this together originally when there was 10 people, so if we can get 20 I would imagine this would definately go, so come on guys I already signed up for 10% of them Obviously I will have to let everyone know the price and things as this goes, but from the thread it looks like it was less than $150.

Here's the link to the groupbuy:
https://www.rx7club.com/group-buy-center-69/air-pump-deletion-idler-pulley-kit-807734/

Bryan

 

Why would U want to spend 150 dollars on this kit when U can use a $4 dollar lawnmower belt.(my favorite method) Or but a double groove alternator pulley for $25?

 

ever do the 4 dollar belt? I know I tried and it was so damned tight that I took it off right away because I would rather not screw up the ecentric shaft or the bearings. Additionally, with the dual alt pully the tension is never going to be same on both belts, and it doesn't really solve the contact problem.
Bryan

 

Actually I have been using the lawn mower belt for about 3 years now and it works great. Never really had an issue. Although I must admit I did end up replacing the water pump this year. But it was the original unit 85+kmiles and 24+ years old so I seriously doubt that belt had anything to do with it. I even used the same mower belt with the new water pump.

Maybe you got an acceptionally tight belt? Id' buy another and try it again. Your not going to hurt the ecc shaft. Once it is actually on the pulley it isn't aplpying any more torque than the original belt IMO. You can even loosen the fan pulley to slip it on if it makes U that uncomfortable.

The only worrie I'd have is possibly the water pump bearings if your pump is old/high miles. Might as well change it if you haven't. Mazda reccomends it every 50k anyway! Mine was 28 dollars at auto zone.

Worked so well I sold my dual groove alt pulley. You really dont need a ton of pressure on the belts. Unless your reving it extreamly high. 9-10k+

 

I bought a spare air pump off the forum for experimentation. Didn't cost much at all.

I suspect that you could just gut the vanes out of one, and there you have it: a deletion pulley kit. For well less than $150. That looks just like an EPA-approved pump to any interested peace officer.

 

yeah i am gonna have to say it would have to be less than half that cost for me to be interested. the lawnmower belt worked fine for me. plus i would rather have the glimmer drive system.

 

I have a gutted air pump, essentially just a free spinning pulley, if any body is interested. $20 plus shipping (I deleted the pump and went with a dual pulley).

 

You probably won't find much interest in the 1st gen section for something like this. We're a bunch of cheap bastards, and maybe a bit more willing to do our own fab work than the 3rd gen guys...

 

Yeah, I gutted the air pump just for the fun off it and to put off paying the $20 for a dual pulley (which I eventually got, that's why my gutted air pump is sitting in the shed). It's kind of cool to see what those things look like inside, pretty complicated.

 

For what it is worth...

I removed my air pump before I heard all this about having belts slip. I've never had a problem, after 8 months and hundreds of pulls to 8k. If I ever had a problem I'll source a double pulley kit but for right now I have no need.