Its not rocket science so I'll try to keep it short - basically I wanted to delete my air con and air pump from my 85 Mustang GT but I wanted to do it for as little expense as possible. I think I managed it for under $20 including a new belt...here's how.
1. Remove the old belt
2. Remove the Air Con and all of its pipework, accumulator and heat exchanger in front of the radiator. It didn't work any way so no loss.
3. You could remove the air pump at this point althought I have not gotten around to that yet - there are lots of 'how to' posts on this if you search.
At this point I wanted to put on a new short belt from crank to water pump to power steering to altenator without any need for idle pulley wheels which I think are kind of pointless. I bought a 710K6 belt which eventually squeezed on, but when I released the belt tensioner it pressed the belt down too far so that it was rubbing.
I took it for a test drive but the belt was slipping and getting very hot (as well as dropping lots of rubber). So I thought of a simple fix.
4. Take off the belt tensioner and throw it in a corner, then I fabricated an adjustable length tie rod using some all-thread with bolts welded on either end and an adjustment nut and lock nut to set the length.
5. The distance between centres needs to be about 75mm when fully closed. Slacken off the bolt below the altenator before adjusting the belt tension, then once its tight re-torque it.
6. I bolted it all up this evening and took it out for a test drive and the belt squeal and rubbing have totally gone.
Attatched are before and after pictures which show the belt tensioner replacement. I'll probably have to buy a new belt for $12 since I cooked the one that's on when it was rubbing but I think you could do it easily for under $20 if you have access to a welder and some simple workshop tools.
One final point - the 710K6 (71 inches with 6 ribs) is with under size pulleys - check your length if you are running std pulleys. Good luck.
Before Photo with belt tensioner and air con
After photo with new belt routing. Just use the tie rod to move altenator to tension belt.
1. Remove the old belt
2. Remove the Air Con and all of its pipework, accumulator and heat exchanger in front of the radiator. It didn't work any way so no loss.
3. You could remove the air pump at this point althought I have not gotten around to that yet - there are lots of 'how to' posts on this if you search.
At this point I wanted to put on a new short belt from crank to water pump to power steering to altenator without any need for idle pulley wheels which I think are kind of pointless. I bought a 710K6 belt which eventually squeezed on, but when I released the belt tensioner it pressed the belt down too far so that it was rubbing.
I took it for a test drive but the belt was slipping and getting very hot (as well as dropping lots of rubber). So I thought of a simple fix.
4. Take off the belt tensioner and throw it in a corner, then I fabricated an adjustable length tie rod using some all-thread with bolts welded on either end and an adjustment nut and lock nut to set the length.
5. The distance between centres needs to be about 75mm when fully closed. Slacken off the bolt below the altenator before adjusting the belt tension, then once its tight re-torque it.
6. I bolted it all up this evening and took it out for a test drive and the belt squeal and rubbing have totally gone.
Attatched are before and after pictures which show the belt tensioner replacement. I'll probably have to buy a new belt for $12 since I cooked the one that's on when it was rubbing but I think you could do it easily for under $20 if you have access to a welder and some simple workshop tools.
One final point - the 710K6 (71 inches with 6 ribs) is with under size pulleys - check your length if you are running std pulleys. Good luck.
Before Photo with belt tensioner and air con
After photo with new belt routing. Just use the tie rod to move altenator to tension belt.
