Chiselchst

Right on Sammy, great news! Thanks for venturing out and trying this tensioner...I think I'm gonna' get one for my future mods (planning on 81 pulley, 10% O/D HB, cam and headers cat delete).
Did you ever install your new IC pump?

CI GS

No worries Mitch. Someone's gotta be the Guinea pig on these things, and I'm dumb enough to take on a challenge now and then!
I haven't installed the LSA HX pump as yet. Packed it away last night in fact. I still need to get the pigtail/harness for it. I'll wait to see what the IATs do when I get the boost to stabilize. And I'm gonna put the BAP on the Bosch pump first, remember? I'm actually not kidding about that...
Im gonna take some pics tonight and post them up on here.

schpenxel

Yeah, that tensioner is no joke.. I'm hoping it gets rid of any belt slipping you might have been experiencing

I use a short extension and then a really big ratchet, I believe it's a 3/4" drive actually with some adapters to get it down to 3/8. That's overkill but it has a long handle that makes it easier to work with

Worst case you could do what Unreal did.. he had a piece of some hex stock welded on to the tensioner. That gives a really good solid place to get a socket/ratchet on. I was always worried about stripping the 3/8" slot because of how strong the spring is on them

CI GS

Yeah, I tried getting it to open from below the car last night with a long handled 3/8" drive ratchet and gave up. I thought it was jammed or something. Nearly toppled the car off the lift. I hope the Hbeat blower snout and the unwelded WP pulley will hold up with that much tension on it.
If it slips now, there's nothing more I can do - other than install a 'real' blower...
That stupid bolt boss on the water pump pisses me off, because now I have to cut it off and get aluminum shavings all over the damn place, including my eyes, no doubt. Can't even figure out what that would be for...

schpenxel

Did the tensioner ever move or did it still feel jammed? Mine is strong but I don't remember it being THAT strong

CI GS

It didn't move at all.
But, I may have been exaggerating a bit on how much pressure I put on it, to be honest... I didn't want to wring the square lug out from pulling on it at an angle from underneath the car. I'm gonna clamp it in the vise and try it before I put it on. Because if they made 100,000 good ones and there was just one bad one, I would get it.

Chiselchst

Sammy, couple of questions if I might;
What was your take on the GripTec pullies? Did they grip better?
And the Powerbond balancer you were waiting for - was that a shipping problem or an inventory/production issue?

ETA: If I did the ECS tensioner on a 10% OD HB & an 87mm upper, can I get by with a 6-rib? An 82mm?



Thanks!

Don't break that new tensioner!

CI GS

The Griptec pulleys are nice. They definitely should hold the belt better than a stock Magnuson pulley, especially in the smaller sizes, because they have a very grippy surface. I happen to believe that the slip I have happens at the Crank pulley though. The ECS tensioner will help there because of its location, it gives better wrap around the crank pulley. It also has more throw and WAAY more tension, so it should cure my belt slip problems.
The powerbond balancer debacle was a backorder issue. They're made in Australia, so they sometimes takes weeks before you can get one. Probably the best bang for the buck in performance balancers though, to be honest. One vendor had them for $238, IIRC.
We'll soon know how well the ECS tensioner, a 10% OD crank pulley and a 3.2" Griptec works. That's if I don't get pissed off and burn the car down first. More on that below.

CI GS

Spent the last 3 hours messing around with this tensioner install. The problem is that that damn boss on the water pump needs to be cut off like completely flush, but that's next to impossible with the WP still on the car, and I refuse to drain the coolant to pull the pump off to mess with that. So first I used a sawzall and that cut it, but at an angle, instead of flush, and then I had to use a file to cut it back and straighten it. But after I installed the tensioner and tried to put the belt on, I discovered the tensioner just slightly pinches the belt against that boss, if the tensioner were to fully close. See picture below as to how close it is.
So I had to pull the tensioner off again. I tried every tool I had, to no avail, as there's just not enough space to get the right angle. I've decided I need a small angle grinder and some small diameter grinding pads to grind maybe a 1/4" off one side. So I've given up for the night and will tackle it afresh asap.

Chiselchst

Man that is a SOB to reach. Need a "Honey I shrunk the kids" size person with a miniature high-speed grinder!
I can see that additional wrap on the balancer - man that shouldn't slip anymore.
Even using any type of stone/wheel on a shaft I can think of, that looks tough. Hang in there brother...


Thanks Sammy

schpenxel

Yeah with that much wrap and tension I really hope you'll be slip free, once you get that damn boss out of the way

In the end it probably would have been faster to just drain the coolant and pull the water pump, but I didn't say that

scottg

I just want to see a pic of your knuckle's and a sound track of you talking to that son of a b%$&! part.

CI GS

Yeah, it's really tight in there, especially with the fan assembly right there. I always said that a mechanic needs to have really small hands, preferably with an eyeball on on at least one finger. I might have to at least pull the fan out to get more space. But there's one little bolt on the top of that that's a bitch to get back in, from what I recall. This is one of those things where you try to take the "minimal amount of work" approach and end up screwing yourself with more work. I can hear my late father saying, "that's what you get for being lazy!"

CI GS

That goddamn boss is going to see who's BOSS tonight!!
Yeah, tell me about it. I wish I had drained the radiator and pulled that and the fan and everything out too. I was dreading that I would have to pull that damn steering rack out to get the tensioner on, but that turned out fine, but now this. Below is a pic from up top that shows how close the tensioner is to the boss (sorry about the bad angle). The idler doesn't touch, but with the belt on there it does with the tensioner fully closed, so it will destroy at least the back rib on the belt if the tensioner reaches that position at high rpm.
BTW: I had to pull the engine mount nuts and jack the engine up to get the tensioner to seat into the bracket and to tighten the tensioner bolt. It's literally directly behind the rack and runs very close to it.
Something I realized as well is that the Heartbeat pulley setup can't work with the earlier water pumps where the rad hose comes out the passenger side. It's specifically designed for that damn LS3 pump, so the only way to get this particular cobbled together setup to work without going through all of this is to start with an LS3 pump that has that completely unnecessary boss cut flush to the pump body. Ah well, at least someone else might benefit from my stupid endeavours...

CI GS

Yeah, the old paws are pretty banged up this morning. Nothing dramatic like Carson slicing his finger open with a grinder, but there's still time for some of that... That sound track would've made George Carlin blush...

scottg

Speaking of water pumps. Last year got a new thermostat for mine,thinking it was sticking half way open because gauge was reading 15 degrees hotter than the digital readout. Ordered the part from Lingenfelter for my ls3 2008, put it in and leaked a little. Called and asked if they sent me the right part, and asked for the vin number and said " mid year changed water pumps and mine took another size thermostat". I said "Don't you think that would of been important to know in your parts menu too for reference." Actually it was my tuner that told my that.Then I called Lingenfelter. In the end it is my gauge on the left of the dash that is reading wrong not the thermostat. I was pissed at having to deal with that little inconvenience I can image how Sammy's neighbors felt having to hear those sounds coming from his garage.

CI GS

Here's a picture of the water pump out of the car (from back when I did the cam install).
To install the ECS tensioner, the bottom boss needs to be cut back by about 3/4" and the one next to it needs to be cut back just slightly (but if you have the pump off the car then just cut it off) as it is just about where the edge of the belt runs and so it could come into contact with the belt as the tensioner swings through its arc. I just used a file and took a little bit off the end of it (that's the best I could do with the pump on the car) and rounded the edges so that if the belt brushes it somehow, it won't rip the edge of the belt.
Note that neither one of these bosses are needed for the Hbeat setup. HOWEVER, the two upper ones are definitely needed to mount the Magnuson tensioner/idler assembly.

CI GS

Say hello to my little friend! (Top pic)
He made short work of cutting that stinking boss back, well out of the way of the ECS tensioner (bottom pic).
It's messy and makes a lot of noise, but boy, that tungsten carbide cutter didn't waste any time cutting that boss back out of the way!

CI GS

Now for the bad news: I have a plethora of belts. I have three 98" belts: the original Gates, a Continental Gatorback and a brand new RPM from Gates. I also have a couple of new Gaterbacks and another Gates which are shorter
But none of them can work. I need a slightly longer belt to allow for the "bend" the ECS tensioner makes in the belt.
Looks like I need a 99"-100" belt and then I can use the manual tensioner to put the ECS tensioner in the 1 O'clock position as per ECS' instructions. Getting closer, I think. The "tension" continues...

schpenxel

Looks like progress to me!