BlinD26

iTrader: (27)

I'm doing a teardown to perform the airpump delete, blockoff plates, and GReddy SMIC and noticed this:




The wearline is towards the 'front' of the car. I couldn't see anything that would be rubbing against the belt and all the pulleys seemed true.

The belt will be replaced when I install the Pineapple Racing idler pulley, so I was wondering if this is a common issue and I will eventually eat the new belt.

Thoughts?

Mahjik

iTrader: (1)

Take a look at the upper radiator hose connection. Depending on the type of hose and clamp you are using, sometimes you can get some rubbing there on the belt.

KKMpunkrock2011

iTrader: (5)

how many miles? that could affect the wear characteristics as well.

BlinD26

iTrader: (27)

I'll take a look, but I think the clamp was clocked to where it wouldnt inferfere


52k original miles, unknown if the belts have ever been changed. The AC/PS belt looks aweful as well, but typical wear. It will be replaced as well.

KKMpunkrock2011

iTrader: (5)

how do you like the RP AST? I'm gonna get one over the winter and would like some first hand opinions
I also see tokiko shocks, want another set?

grimple1

iTrader: (1)

I'm with Mahjik on this one. I bet you money that something is causing it to bounce up to the upper rad hose connection area.

The only way you'll know is to put it back on the car and watch it like a hawk for a couple of minutes to check for contact.

Does the WP pulley bounce at all (bearing issue - or -untrue pulley).

BlinD26

iTrader: (27)

Well the current state of the car won't allow that test, so it's going to have to wait till the new belt is on and everything is buttoned back up...

As a side note I think the tension may have been a bit off because it seemed like the alternator was positioned almost all the way down and the only way I was able to release the belt tension was to unbolt the airpump (which I was taking off anyways)

Sgtblue

iTrader: (16)

Have you looked closely at the clamp and see if there's any evidence of rubbing? Less likely would be a big casting imperfection hanging down on the underside of the housing. You could check that with a mirror or feel for it. It probably wouldn't take much if the belt flapped a little on acceleration/deacceleration.
The only other thing would be an alignment issue of some sort on the alternator or (former) airpump pulleys.

BlinD26

iTrader: (27)

I'm going to give it a once over again tonight and see if I can find anything...

Thinking back I'm almost wondering if a piece of the bottom airdam had struck the belt when I hit the racoon and never noticed the belt damage until now...

BlinD26

iTrader: (27)

Went over the belt path with a fine tooth comb today and didn't find anything that could have potentially contacted the belt...

My only concern is when I installed the new belt, it seems that the right most side of the belt seems to be twisting outwards, or is it just my imagination?

KKMpunkrock2011

iTrader: (5)

not sure if you got the right size belt on there, looks a tad wide., where'd you get it at?
also I can't really tell from the pictures, but it looks like you might not have the belt on correctly either, not sure tho but it looks like you have it on backwards.

Sgtblue

iTrader: (16)

The waterpump pulley and bolts look brand new. That pulley has a little "hub-centric" section in the middle. IIRC, when the pulley is seated fully, that section should be flush or even sticking out a little. You might make certain that's the case.

BlinD26

iTrader: (27)

Belt is stock width but length is different due to the airpump delete and Pineapple Racing pulley. Belts are routed to proper pullies, just optically it looks like they are swapped since the coolant line is in the way.

Pulley is original (just cleaned) and bolts were replaced because I sheared a head during the reinstall. I can remount and see if it gets anymore flush, but seemed to be correct.

Seems to be more flush with the center hub in this pic:

Sgtblue

iTrader: (16)

With the Pineapple pulley, be sure to check for belt clearance under the filler neck housing. While that design is a little more compact (and IIRC even works with some single turbos), there have been cases of a couple of buyers having to file or grind a little of the casting underneath that neck.

BlinD26

iTrader: (27)

Thanks for the tip, I noticed that the tolerance was pretty close

When I pop off the waterpump pulley to check it again I'll probably shave a bit off the neck

BlinD26

iTrader: (27)

Ok, so as I was re-buttoning up the engine bay for the first startup I removed the waterpump pulley, shaved the filler neck, and re-mounted the waterpump pulley and verified that it was sitting flush:

Shaved neck:


After confirming yet again that nothing was in the path to rub, I finished what I was doing and started her up and instantly started seeing a new line being drawn on the belt. Turned the car off and looked down and finally saw the cause:


Now, I'm still relativley new on working on these cars, but is there supposed to be a shim on these waterpumps to index the waterpump pulley? When I initially removed the pulley there definantly wasnt a shim (or if it fell out it sure didnt make any noise).

Any thoughts? Is this a sign of a failed pump?

BoostCrzy

I would take the belt off again and check for in/out play in the waterpump...that could be a sign of a worn pump...

mdpalmer

iTrader: (24)

Wow, I had the EXACT same issue. I had a Pineapple idler pulley on my car for about a year, with the brand new belt which came with the kit. I chewed that brand new belt up and guess why? My water pump pulley (bearing) was shot. It had a tiny bit of wobble in it, you have to take the belt off and wiggle it around, you can tell when it's done. I had a brand new pump to compare to, it's night and day. If you can look underneath the pump, you'll probably see some coolant coming out of the weep hole if you take the pulley off and look under the hub (get a small mirror). The symptoms are exactly as you pictured. The main belt will ride up on the lip of the pulley and wear itself out over time. When you put tension on the belt the pulley will not rotate true and the belt will "scoot" itself toward the lip. I just replaced my pump with an RE-medy unit from Mazmart and guess what? The belt does not ride up on the lip of that damn pulley I would consider replacing yours if you have any wobble at all in the pump, otherwise you will continue to eat belts before the pump REALLY dies. One word of advice: you don't need a lot of tension on the main drive belt. Mine is so loose, I made it just loose enough to not make any noise, but tight enough so I can't move the w/p pulley by hand.

Here's some pics of the RE-medy water pump

grimple1

iTrader: (1)

the re-medy suggestion is a good one if you're in the market for a new waterpump.


https://www.rx7club.com/3rd-generation-specific-1993-2002-16/re-medy-upgraded-water-pump-better-flow-hp-735888/

BlinD26

iTrader: (27)

Thanks for the suggestions guys, I actually stumbled upon the RE-medy pump earlier today when trying to pin down the issue...

I'll probably tear everything down again this week and confirm the pump is shot, but with all I've read and mdpalmer's confirmation and the convo I had earlier with BoostCrzy, looks like it's waterpump time.

And of course I had to get this far before I could start the car to notice, ugh...

KKMpunkrock2011

iTrader: (5)

holy crap ditch the stock air box already! that thing is horrible.

BlinD26

iTrader: (27)

Stocker was just to get the car to turn over and testing, I have a HKS RS intake set to go on once my ARC airbox sells.

BlinD26

iTrader: (27)

Ok, the followup...

BoostCrzy and I attempted to tackle the issue last Thursday. Checking again for the millionth time, this time with a straight edge, we confirmed that all the pulleys are in perfect alignment with eachother. Took the belt off, no bearing play whatsoever on the water pump. Installed BoostCrzy's stock water pump pulley on the offchance that mine was somehow damaged, same issue.

Finally we came to the conclusion that for some reason the belt was tracking true but the pulley outter lip was too close, so we shimmed the pulley. This solved the problem. My only thought is that possibly in the past the waterpump had been replaced and they used a thinner gasket material or something, because we couldn't have shimmed it more then 1mm or so to resolve the issue.

Thanks for all the input guys!