neutron82

just wondering if anyone knows who makes the tensioner that ecs supplies in their kits... long story short mine broke and I need a new one... I remember someone had posted the part #'s maybe a year or 2 ago but that thread was deleted... feel free to pm me if you don't want to post publicly and thanks for any help

4DRUSH

What's broke on it?

neutron82

the 3/8" hole that is used to open it developed some small cracks around it that progressed down into the webbing of the body... had it welded up and put it on a bench to make sure the weld would hold and that it actuated properly and a big chunk of the case broke off the bottom... pretty sure it's toast

4DRUSH

That bites, when you get a new one, do this



I tapped the alum Hex piece & used a longer bolt, then had it welded.

Works super easy & you wouldn't break that

neutron82

yeah that looks like a great solution, wanna sell me one of those?

BLOWNBLUEZ06

That's smart work Jay.

blown81bu

clever Jay

DOUG @ ECS

Two issues I see, welding aluminum weakens it unless it's reheated, and we machine the tensioners to fit the kit.

GLWI.

neutron82

pretty sure I found it, $40 tensioner and the machine work looks like nothing but grinding some material off of the body so it will clear the rack, thanks

DOUG @ ECS

Other side is also machined which is for the idler hold down so it needs to be precise. You have the old one so it shouldn't be hard to have a machine shop do that. We made a jig for the Bridgeport but it shouldn't be hard to make a temporary one.

MVP'S ZO6

Just wanted to post in this thread. After seeing it and talking with Bret, we decided it was a good idea to do like Jay did and weld a hex head on it.

Thanks for the idea Jay and thanks Bret for welding it up for me.

neutron82

that looks familiar... in case anyone else is interested...

MVP'S ZO6

In the pic I have the AC tensioner and idler pulley on wrong. I realized it after looking at it. I had to go reference the ecs installation instructions.

And yes, they're most certainly ford tensioners. I bought mine from ecs though through arun because I needed the spacers and pulley Ect for a 10 rib and because I had already spent the money by the time I found out what it was. :-). Arun did me a solid on the price.

helga203

Did you change your set up?? I thought your car was done, where you were satisfied with your built or did i miss something?? Just curious.

MVP'S ZO6

Yeah I changed it. While going through and fixing mass amounts of Fu*kery.

Despite all the changes I still have an A&A bracket though.

ONE BMF

What did you have to grind off it to make it work. Any pics ?

DOUG @ ECS

Grinding the front to fit the rack is easy, machining the idler seat down not so much.

neutron82

for a machinist it is... I had $100 total in it including the price of the tensioner

neutron82

top one is the original tensioner I had, bottom one is the new one before machining... obviously it will be easier for the machinist to match it up if you have the original but even if you didn't have one I'm sure they could get it done as long as you have an idler so they have a point of reference... also notice there is not enough material on the tensioner to support both bearings in the idler so only the bearing nearest the front of the car with the tensioner installed will have support and the other bearing has a thin washer and shanked bolt putting pressure on it... they could atleast make a shouldered washer to give it some kind of support... in the bottom pic you can see the area you will need to grind off to clear the rack

DOUG @ ECS

Time well spent, we charge $79 for just the tensioner itself.