Belt tensioner fail and other upgrades (not modem friendly)
 

I finally have some time to work on my Vette and have been tearing down a little at a time. The first picture you can see the belt tensioner is not straight. The belt tensioner had a disclaimer on it that it isn’t for supercharger use unless using a dedicated belt for the supercharger. I was driving all of the pulleys off of the same belt.

You can see the Bent tensioner, the belt slid off.


http://i624.photobucket.com/albums/t...ttensioner.jpg


Bent tensioner backside, easy to see what happened, I didn't think I had enough torque to do this kind of damage.

http://i624.photobucket.com/albums/t...erbackside.jpg


I was sitting at a light idling when the belt came off, I shut down pretty quick but the belt wrapped around the balancer good. I cut the belt trying to remove it but the AC belt and some of the 8-rub belt became jammed behind the balancer and after a few days of trying to remove the pieces that wouldn’t come out I finally conceded I would have to remove the balancer.

Remove tierods from both sides.

http://i624.photobucket.com/albums/t...es/tierods.jpg


Drop swaybar

http://i624.photobucket.com/albums/t...es/swaybar.jpg

Used turkey baster to remove power steering fluid

http://i624.photobucket.com/albums/t...rkeybaster.jpg

Z51 has power steering cooler, gots to go.

http://i624.photobucket.com/albums/t.../PS_cooler.jpg

Disconnected steering shaft.

http://i624.photobucket.com/albums/t...eringshaft.jpg


I used a bungy cord to hold the steering wheel from spinning on me.

http://i624.photobucket.com/albums/t...eringwheel.jpg


Removed all of the lines for the power steering rack.

http://i624.photobucket.com/albums/t...sracklines.jpg


Got the ABS out of the way.

http://i624.photobucket.com/albums/t...grades/ABS.jpg


Took a little persuasion to get the rack loose.

http://i624.photobucket.com/albums/t...loosenrack.jpg


Rack is finally out.

http://i624.photobucket.com/albums/t...rades/rack.jpg


Now I can remove the balancer.

http://i624.photobucket.com/albums/t...vebalancer.jpg


Using a puller to get the balancer pulled off.

http://i624.photobucket.com/albums/t...ades/pully.jpg


With the balancer off, now I can see all of the pieces of belts that was jammed between the balancer and cam cover. All of this work due to a weak belt tensioner.


http://i624.photobucket.com/albums/t...ecesofbelt.jpg



Now the balancer is off, looks like the front seal may be leaking, this is the time to replace it whether it is leaking or not.

Hell I am in this deep, I might as well upgrade the camshaft. I decided to go with the ZR1 cam, GM Part Number 12638427. Good cam for a supercharger and mild enough for my automatic and should have a good smooth idle.

Loosened cam gear and lined it up with the crank.

http://i624.photobucket.com/albums/t...ovecamgear.jpg


Next, time to remove rockers and pushrods. Removed cam gear/ chain, cam tensioner and cam plate.

http://i624.photobucket.com/albums/t...overockers.jpg


Spun the cam around while inserting 5/16 inch dowels, this will keep the lifters from dropping into the oil pan while I remove the camshaft. The dowels are both 24 inches long and they were the same distance out, looks like they are both all of the way in.

http://i624.photobucket.com/albums/t...des/dowels.jpg


Gently remove camshaft.


http://i624.photobucket.com/albums/t...des/camout.jpg



New ZR1 cam is on the left.


http://i624.photobucket.com/albums/t...des/ZR1cam.jpg


Installing the new cam. I lubed up half of the cam and very gently installed half way in. Good time to lub up the rest of the cam and finished inserting the cam all of the way in. Once in, rotated the cam a few times to make sure it rotates freely.

http://i624.photobucket.com/albums/t...tallingcam.jpg


More later, need to check service manual for installation torque amounts.

Damn, that's a lot of project! I have a suspicion you planned it all along but it's all good. I'm lovin the Man Cave turkey baster!

Good luck and keep the pics coming. :cheers:

The cam was on my list but I was going to have Ed install one for me, this is a PITA to do without a lift. The man cave baster is labeled so it doesn't migrate to the kitchen.

I am finally installing parts, more stuff on order, more to come.

Got some more installed today. Cam aligned with the crank.

http://i624.photobucket.com/albums/t.../cam-crank.jpg


Cam gear, chain and oil pump installed.

http://i624.photobucket.com/albums/t...pinstalled.jpg


Cam cover cleaned and installed.


http://i624.photobucket.com/albums/t...s/camcover.jpg


I decided to install a new Innovators West 8" Overdrive balancer. On the left is a Hawk LS Series Harmonic Balancer Installation Tool part number HP61805, worked great.

http://i624.photobucket.com/albums/t...vatorswest.jpg


Cranking it on. I want to double pin the balancer but the kit I have doesn't work on the Innovators West balancer, I have the right one on order.

http://i624.photobucket.com/albums/t...installing.jpg


Installed the pushrods and rockers, cranked the engine around a couple of revolutions by hand and rechecked the torque.

http://i624.photobucket.com/albums/t...sinstalled.jpg

Nice project you have going here are you getting close to finishing it yet?

Jeff
Looks like an awful amount of work, but I am sure when your car is back together it will be almost bulletproof. Pictures look great and I am sure you spent many hours with your service manual. Great write-up.

Get that thing together so we can line them up :D
Good job on the DIY pics & instructions

I am out of town for a couple weeks but I think I have some more pictures I can post tonight. I am close to being done if I don’t find anymore parts to order, I am finding out local dealers don’t have any parts for my Vette, everything has to be ordered online, I use Parts Taxi - GM Parts and GM Accessories for my GM parts.

It is a lot more work than I was planning on doing. I didn't think the belt would be such a PITA getting out. Some of the changes I am making is to make it stronger, hopefully more reliable but time will tell.

I have removed most of these parts before when I installed the supercharger. Some of these parts I am getting to damn familiar with but I guess that is what happens when we mod.

I am using my manual also Home | Lingenfelter Performance Engineering has a list of torque values on their website for most of what I am doing.

Line them up, I don't have a chance against an ole pro like yourself.

Hahaha.....ask Joe, if I were that good I would have a lot more trophies and cash in my pockets!:)

I am still out of town but can upload a few pictures of my progress just before leaving for my trip. I am using my laptop connected to my phone for this, seems to be working great.

Installed new valve covers with coil relocation kit, just a bling thing.

http://i624.photobucket.com/albums/t...alvecovers.jpg


I had to do some cutting and grinding of the brass fitting to clear my supercharger intake, but finally got it to fit on both sides.

http://i624.photobucket.com/albums/t...s/covermod.jpg



I am doing an experiment with the water pump. The stock 2008 water pump hose is in the way of my new belt path I am going to do, trying a new water pump from a 2010 Corvette, note the difference in the water inlet on the water pumps. The back side is the same for both water pumps. You can see the height of the pulley is different but the place of the belt should be good for my application.

Top water pump is for a 2010 Corvette, bottom is my stock pump.

http://i624.photobucket.com/albums/t...pumpsfront.jpg

http://i624.photobucket.com/albums/t...rpumpsrear.jpg

http://i624.photobucket.com/albums/t...pumppulley.jpg



My new belt tensioner from MTI Racing, looks a lot stronger than the one that broke and caused these upgrades. This tensioner mounts three different points and is solid billet aluminum which should be a lot stronger.

http://i624.photobucket.com/albums/t...lttenfront.jpg

http://i624.photobucket.com/albums/t...elttenback.jpg


Got a polished ported Throttle Body.

http://i624.photobucket.com/albums/t...s/PortedTB.jpg

http://i624.photobucket.com/albums/t...Binstalled.jpg


Since my brake lines are drained, I decided to install a RSD line lock, like I need another way to smoke my tires.

http://i624.photobucket.com/albums/t...SDLineLock.jpg

http://i624.photobucket.com/albums/t...kinstalled.jpg

I got my crank drilled, pinned and bolted.

http://i624.photobucket.com/albums/t...nnedbolted.jpg


With the new water pump installed I went with the HPE Flip Drive kit, this is pretty much where I am at until I get back home. This will be easier to explain as I install more of the kit.


http://i624.photobucket.com/albums/t...ipdrivekit.jpg

Some pretty fancy upgrades there. Really liking the red valve covers and the coil relocate, looking forward to seeing it in person. :cheers:

Thanks, I am going to try to finish putting it together Friday, wash the three months of dust/pollen off so I can attend the Vettes at the Track. I hope to see you there. :beer:

I got it together Friday night like I planned but had a bad power steering fluid leak so I could not go on my trip. Turns out I was missing adapters and a high pressure hose from my HPE Flip Drive kit which will be delivered tomorrow. I attempted to bend the OEM line to work for the weekend trip but it did not hold the pressure and made quite the mess.

Part that suks, I had to take a lot of the parts off again that I just installed.

My truck of parts is disappearing as I install.

http://i624.photobucket.com/albums/t...kofgoodies.jpg



I was going to polish my alternator bracket but decided I didn't have enough time and bought a chrome one. I started to polish but realized how much time it was going to take.

http://i624.photobucket.com/albums/t...AltBracket.jpg


The alternator bracket had to be cut and a little grinding to fit with my HPE Flip Drive.

http://i624.photobucket.com/albums/t...etModified.jpg


Installed a new High Power alternator, the stock one just doesn't put out enough power.

http://i624.photobucket.com/albums/t...Alternator.jpg


Since I went with an oversized harmonic balancer I could not install the serpentine belt because it is so close to the subframe the belt would not fit between the balancer and subframe, so I could not install the belt without lifting the engine. I decided to go back to the stock motor height and ordered Pfadt motor mounts. I went with the lowered engine due to hood clearance issue during my supercharger install, even lowered I had to replace the hood. I was able to close the hood with the engine back in its original height, I still need to check to see how close I am but I will do that later. The lowered (modified) mounts on the left, stock motor brackets with Pfadt motor mounts on the right.

http://i624.photobucket.com/albums/t...LeftMtrMnt.jpg

http://i624.photobucket.com/albums/t...ightMtrMnt.jpg

Almost done, hopefully I can find the time to finish this soon.

Fired it up today to test the power steering leak, no leak this time with the new high pressure hose. Watched my oil pressure, started around forty then then dropped to nothing and when I got the RPM's back up the oil pressure went back up. I am hoping I damaged the sending unit when I jacked up the engine.

Both sides of the engine I could hear tapping, I am hoping it is just the exhaust gaskets leaking a little as I didn't replace them when I removed the headers for the engine mount replacement.

I won't be able to work on it until Monday now. :madcloud:

I will make an offering to the gods for you.

Went into the garage this morning before heading to work, power steering fluid was running down my garage floor, must be a leak somewhere.

I have been thinking about the oil pressure issue, it could be a few things that I can think of, bad sensor that I mentioned before. I disconnected a ground wire due to the flip drive kit that I was going to relocate/rewire to a different position on the engine before putting it on the road which is a stretch but it might cause it the gauge reading to be wrong. My frontend is about 1.5 foot higher than the rear so I might be sucking some air. Last thing and probably most likely, my pickup tube O ring might need to be replaced which means I get to tear it apart again.



:kick: :confused5: :slap: :notfunny: :cry:

Been to pizzed off to work on the Vette. I decided the most likely problem I am having with the oil pressure is the oil pickup tube O ring. I decided to order a high volume oil pump, when I have some time off next week I will start the tear down again. :beer:

I torn into it again today, it has been over a month since I had time to do any wrenching. I found the source of the bad oil pressure, the pickup tube O-ring, as you can see there is a big piece missing I am hoping it doesn't plug up anything. I tore up the crank seal getting the balancer off so I will have to order a replacement if I can't find one locally.

http://i624.photobucket.com/albums/t...des/O-ring.jpg