The Sprite Forum

The saga continues ... not in a good way. Put the new small gear in from Desert Rat, still no joy. Then put the new Taiwanese repop in. Nada. I've noticed my new fan belt is loose and can't get it really tight. But it's the same length as the one I took off. This set-up has been working fine for 30 years, so I'm stumped. Saw that Bugeyeguy has a bracket with a longer adjustment, going to give that a try and tighten up the belt. Those revs are disappearing somewhere! Suggestions welcome.

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Rick

"Madman in a death machine"
Austin-Healey 3000 w/5.0L and T5Z: http://forum.britishv8.org/read.php?13,8264

Easiest belt solution would be a journey to your local auto parts store and get a little shorter belt. Never want to run the belt to tight on a Lucas generator though. When you spin the whole assembly with a variable speed electric drill whats it do. [Make sure its turning the right way!]

Kurt

Problem solved, finally, but it's weird. After going through the tach, gearbox and generator, I noticed a loose fan belt. Couldn't tighten up the belt enough to take the slack out of it even though it's the same bracket that's been on there for 30 years and the new belt length is the same as the old one. I bought a second bracket from Bugeye guy but still not long enough. Fastened the two together and fashioned a bracket long enough to properly tension the belt. Started the car, tach works perfectly. Can't figure out how the original bracket (which was extended to the end of its adjusting slot) could shrink up after all these years.

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Rick

"Madman in a death machine"
Austin-Healey 3000 w/5.0L and T5Z: http://forum.britishv8.org/read.php?13,8264