Alternator belt concern?
 

Finishing up putting the alternator, air pump, water pump, and housing back on and it appears the alternator belt is slightly off line, will this hurt anything?

Does everything else look correct?

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You put the bushing on the alternator bolt (17mm nuts on either end) in the wrong place. Put it by the other ear on the alternator.

okay, so it goes on the other side of the housing? Still on the inside, right?

Another thing I hope I did okay was with the thermostat. I bought the more expensive one with the seal already included. Well, it had a little rubber piece around the stat, however with that on, it would not sit down in the grove, so I took it off and cut my own gasket and simply placed the stat in the grove, with RTV, then the gasket with RTV on both sides. Will that work?

White81z28................ isn't this forum cool???? You ask a tech question and 19 minutes later it is answered!!!!!

Kinda cool isn't it!?

yes your alternator spacer needs to go on the other end of the housing, still inside the alternator ears. i'm not sure about the gasket tho :dunno:

fan needs to be back on, and your upper radiator hose needs to be installed also :D lol

80's Its fantastic man. I could not do any of this work without the guidance here.

Can you see the rusty spacer on the air pump? Did I put it back in the right place? ITs on the front side.

Can't answer that one....both my rex's have their smog pumps removed. Why are you still running yours? Does NC still smog cars as old as ours??

I know in Texas if your car is 25 years old or older you are exempt.

I think its the same in NC. I just got the car about a month ago and it was completely stock. I have been doing the usual stuff, o-rings on beehive to stop oil leak, belts, anti flush, gas filter, rear window shocks, antenna, etc. I did read the rats nest removal, but Im not confident enough to try it myself. I would love to do it, just dont think I know enough yet to give it a try.

you can remove all that stuff, what part of NC are you from?

have you visited the SE section https://www.rx7club.com/showthread.p...18153&page=239

you should post there, maybe some of the guys are close enough lend you a hand if you ask :dunno: i believe its worth it, less things that COULD go wrong

I would check if your state requires emissions, and if not, get that thing out of there (air pump). It weighs a ton.

Your home-made gasket with RTV should be more than enough, just be sure to tighten the bolts enough.

Your belt will snap if you do not fix it :)

can you tell him if he can get rid of the air pump and emissions crap (since you're in NC too)

yes he can, and i have already suggested visit the local thread see if anyone lives closer that may give you a hand if you don't feel comfortable enough to do it yourself.

I live in Waynesville, its about 30 minutes West of Asheville. I would love some experienced help if anyone has done this before.

I switched the spacer out late last, I think it may have helped some but it still looks like it goes to the right a bit, but I will look closer today when I get home from work.


What would be causing the alternator to be sticking out a tad, thus making my belt out of line, since I put it back on?

Push your aligning jig (that is what I call it) back a touch until it looks even. That is the same thing as what happened to me. I let it fun for a week like that and the belt snapped on my way home. Still got there thanks to the yoohoo belt (shameless plug :))

As for NC, it will depend on who you go to. If I went to the/a dealership or a well known place, they would and have failed me. Other places really do not care.

okay, where is the aligning jig at? Can I get a pic of this jig?

Other side of the alternator, with the bolt that helps you adjust the tension. Just push it back a little bit.


Does it squeal when you start/run the car?

Yes, I know what you are talking about. I will try that. Heck, I may have put it back on backwards. I should have taken a pic of each part before taking it off.

I have not started it yet, I let it sit overnight to give the RTV time to dry good. Plan on filling it up this evening and starting it up to see if I have any leaks. Im praying I do not, cause I dont want to have to break it all down again.

At lunch I adjusted the arm that goes from the alt. to the water pump. When not attched to the alt, it had about a 1/4 inch space, so I just put a couple of washers in there so I could tighten it up without it pulling toward the rad. This seemed to help.

Also, went ahead and filled with antifreeze, hope there is none under the car when I get home. Real test will be when I start it up.

Yea double check the driver side alternator bracket, you can put it on the wrong way and it'll throw the alignment off.
Here's a tip for filling up the coolant, if your able to, remove one of the heater hoses on the firewall and slowly fill the coolant (through the radiator cap of course) Once coolant starts to come out the heater hose quickly put it back on the heater core. This will help to get most of the air out of the system. Then run it without the cap for a while and let the thermostat open, then top it up.
Hope that helps

air pump spacer is on correctly. did you use an oem mazda t-stat? very highly reccomended for the 7 as most aftermarket units can cause overheating and most do not have the jiggle pin and allow air pockets in the system. post a pic of the belt as it sits after moving the spacer on the alternator to its correct location.

can you guys circle in the first picture what he did wrong?

thanks.

Y'all are great, thanks for the help here. Yes, I got it moved to the correct location and when I put in the washers on the bar that holds the other side, it looks straight.

The stat was a 180 degree, it does have the little jiggle thing. I try to post a link to the one installed.

did you make sure the jiggle pin was pointing towards the 12 o'clock position when installed?

thank you jeezus

I cant get a pic off the autozone web site. ITs the fail safe stat, with the seal. Had a black rubber seal that wrapped around it. This made it too big to seat properly on the housing. When I put the cover back on, it literally left about a 1/8 inch gap between the housing and the cover. I did not try to screw it down the that much gap.

I dont know on the jiggle pin in the 12 o'clock position. I think I just dropped it in and put the little bar across the stat in the horizonal position. I dont know where the jiggle was. How much will that matter?

Damn, I wish I knew more about cars!!!!!!!!!

Hey, should I pull it and check? Is it important enough that its in that position?

I dont know if I have enough of the RTV left to put it back on.

I've never paid any attention to where the jiggle pin went, I wasn't aware it had to be at 12 o'clock Dave, thats interesting... Guess I must have lucked out cause its always worked fine lol

the idea of the jiggle pin is that it allows trapped air in the system to escape and permits the venting of air from the system when filling the system with coolant. so, with that said, air will rise and will need to go to the highest point of release, hence teh 12 o'clock position. i have enver installed a t-stat with the jiggle pin valve anywhere other than the 12 o'clock position so i dont know what adverse effects if any, will take place. i was just taught that when replacing the t-stat that the pin goes to the 12 o'clock position..

I pulled the cover yerterday afternoon to check (would drive me crazy if I didnt) and by luck, it was sitting straight up. Thanks for the tip, I will remember this in the future.

Okay, I think I have success with the water pump, housing, and stat. I have however developed a clicking/tapping noise that sounds like its coming from the air pump, or that area, any ideas what it could be?

Could I just take the air pump off and plug the holes and get the belt suggested in the rats nest removal directions? Or would that cause me other problems without completing the whole thing?

If you don't have to worry about emissions you might as well go through the rats nest removal process as it greatly simplifies the engine bay...
Dave: that makes sense, I always pull a heater hose while filling coolant to allow air to escape, never had any problems, but it does make sense...

the biggst thing with removing the air pump is that you must remove the main converter as well, as the air pump not only supplies fresh air to it for emission but also to cool it as well. without the air pump, you converter will melt itself. last time i checked, a new oem converter form the dealer for a GSL-SE we $2300.00!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I dont want to do that then. So what cools it when you remove the rats nest?

Yeah... Why the OEM converters are so expensive is beyond me... I can't imagine they've actually sold one in years. I just run Catco cats I get off ebay on my FB's... So far they've all passed inspection with them lol