ATI Pulley Problem
Thread Starter
Melting Slicks
Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 2,479
Likes: 17
From: Miami Fl
ATI Pulley Problem
My oil changing "corvette Mechanic" noticed that the small little circular pully (not powering anything but just leans on the ati belt) on the upper right of the ati P-1sc setup was very uneven and oval and when the car was cold could easily be spun by hand (but not when hot). I took a couple of fotos to email to Breathless (ernie said that this ?idler should be leaning on the belt at all times and should be round). One of the fotos shows that one side is indented kind of like the shape of a wheel w/o the tire on it when viewed from the side. The car runs pretty good made at least 5psi the other day (ran out of room). Anybody had this problem? what could have caused this?
Melting Slicks
Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 3,306
Likes: 5
Originally Posted by urslooow
My oil changing "corvette Mechanic" noticed that the small little circular pully (not powering anything but just leans on the ati belt) on the upper right of the ati P-1sc setup was very uneven and oval and when the car was cold could easily be spun by hand (but not when hot). I took a couple of fotos to email to Breathless (ernie said that this ?idler should be leaning on the belt at all times and should be round). One of the fotos shows that one side is indented kind of like the shape of a wheel w/o the tire on it when viewed from the side. The car runs pretty good made at least 5psi the other day (ran out of room). Anybody had this problem? what could have caused this?
Melting Slicks
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 3,060
Likes: 3
From: Dublin CA
Originally Posted by urslooow
My oil changing "corvette Mechanic" noticed that the small little circular pully (not powering anything but just leans on the ati belt) on the upper right of the ati P-1sc setup was very uneven and oval and when the car was cold could easily be spun by hand (but not when hot). I took a couple of fotos to email to Breathless (ernie said that this ?idler should be leaning on the belt at all times and should be round). One of the fotos shows that one side is indented kind of like the shape of a wheel w/o the tire on it when viewed from the side. The car runs pretty good made at least 5psi the other day (ran out of room). Anybody had this problem? what could have caused this?
Premium Supporting Vendor
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 5,241
Likes: 21
From: Knoxville Tennessee
Nice polishing job... that is shot for sure.
May want to consider an upgrade to an A&A or ECS bracket while you have that all apart replacing that.
Looks like the bearing is eaten up and the pulley was not spinning at the same RPM as the belt.. it is suprising you did not hear that. Looks like it just slid on the belt until it clearanced itself.
Either way.. you are taking that puppy off!
May want to consider an upgrade to an A&A or ECS bracket while you have that all apart replacing that.
Looks like the bearing is eaten up and the pulley was not spinning at the same RPM as the belt.. it is suprising you did not hear that. Looks like it just slid on the belt until it clearanced itself.
Either way.. you are taking that puppy off!
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That is ugly.
Race Director
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 19,802
Likes: 0
From: San Antonio Texas
St. Jude Donor '05-'06-'08
ECS and A&A Brackets
Here are the brackets from the 2 best companies out there........
The first two pictures are from A&A and then there is 2 links on ECS....Can go wrong with either
The first two pictures are from A&A and then there is 2 links on ECS....Can go wrong with either
Last edited by mikes99corvette; Mar 1, 2005 at 09:52 AM.
Thread Starter
Melting Slicks
Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 2,479
Likes: 17
From: Miami Fl
spoke with Chris at ECSC his bracket and Tensioner kit is $890!!! Chris told me that ati offers the part free of charge. according to ati you don't even have to take the blower off, "it's just a bolt on part" according to the ati tech help line. Is this true guys? I don't have much if any experience working on cars, I used to change my oil, and I chg tires would it be possible for me to do this idler swap myself? Ernie at Breathless hasn't had time to even look at my email, he's trying to look around his shop this afternoon to see if he has the part (I'm curious to see if he charges me for this free part). Ernie also said that he hasn't had "hardly any" of these idler pulley problems come back. Bearings on the blower were changed about 1 yr ago.
Do any of you guys get tired of repeatedly having these cars fixed and re-tuned. It seems like I'm always having to tweak the car in some way, new radiator (+laydown), injector failures, I don't know sometimes, I guess when I'm driving on the track it all makes up for the time and effort I put in!
Do any of you guys get tired of repeatedly having these cars fixed and re-tuned. It seems like I'm always having to tweak the car in some way, new radiator (+laydown), injector failures, I don't know sometimes, I guess when I'm driving on the track it all makes up for the time and effort I put in!
Thread Starter
Melting Slicks
Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 2,479
Likes: 17
From: Miami Fl
maybe I'm lucky but this original idler lasted 24,000 miles and 3 yrs! I may sell this car in the fall when I get the C6 z06. But I'll keep an eye on it. I really needed a quick fix since I'm running at the NASA Moroso road course this weekend. Thanks for the heads up. I'm having my regular vette mechanic do it, I assume that you have to take the tension off the tensioner and then just bolt in the part
Burning Brakes
Joined: May 2000
Posts: 881
Likes: 0
From: Clearwater, FL, USA
Originally Posted by urslooow
maybe I'm lucky but this original idler lasted 24,000 miles and 3 yrs! I may sell this car in the fall when I get the C6 z06. But I'll keep an eye on it. I really needed a quick fix since I'm running at the NASA Moroso road course this weekend. Thanks for the heads up. I'm having my regular vette mechanic do it, I assume that you have to take the tension off the tensioner and then just bolt in the part
Thread Starter
Melting Slicks
Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 2,479
Likes: 17
From: Miami Fl
AFter calling ati i asked for the idler pulley and I described the part to the tech, I don't know if he sent the right part (Andy at A&A said to get the 3" pulley but I didn't ask ati for it) It looks like they sent the 3" part is this the correct part? it is the same thickness (1 1/8") just larger in diameter. can anyone get this new foto on for me, the new part is black, old was polished
Last edited by urslooow; Mar 3, 2005 at 04:18 PM.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 3,306
Likes: 5
Originally Posted by urslooow
AFter calling ati i asked for the idler pulley and I described the part to the tech, I don't know if he sent the right part (Andy at A&A said to get the 3" pulley but I didn't ask ati for it) It looks like they sent the 3" part is this the correct part? it is the same thickness (1 1/8") just wider. can anyone get trhis new foto on for me, the new part is black old was polished
Thread Starter
Melting Slicks
Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 2,479
Likes: 17
From: Miami Fl
I drove to my mechanic and had him watch me put in the new pulley, this was the correct part (I understand that the black color comes off pretty fast), started her up and the pulley made contact and spun well
By the way the bearings on the old misshapen pulley were ok, once it was off the bracket it spun very easily, so what exactly is the mechanical problem with this distorted idler?
Thanks a bunch to you guys for the quick responses and esp John G for helping post the fotos!
By the way the bearings on the old misshapen pulley were ok, once it was off the bracket it spun very easily, so what exactly is the mechanical problem with this distorted idler?
Thanks a bunch to you guys for the quick responses and esp John G for helping post the fotos!
Melting Slicks
Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 3,306
Likes: 5
Originally Posted by urslooow
I drove to my mechanic and had him watch me put in the new pulley, this was the correct part (I understand that the black color comes off pretty fast), started her up and the pulley made contact and spun well
By the way the bearings on the old misshapen pulley were ok, once it was off the bracket it spun very easily, so what exactly is the mechanical problem with this distorted idler?
Thanks a bunch to you guys for the quick responses and esp John G for helping post the fotos!
By the way the bearings on the old misshapen pulley were ok, once it was off the bracket it spun very easily, so what exactly is the mechanical problem with this distorted idler?
Thanks a bunch to you guys for the quick responses and esp John G for helping post the fotos!
