Miata Mailing List: December 1996, Message #126
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   From: (none)

Subject: RE: SSCOR: Short term Sebring results... A little worried about SC be

   Date: (none)







Matthew,



I've followed a few of your notes and have a few comments.



You said that your first belt broke. This is the first red flag in my mind.

-->No, it broke because it wound itself over the edges of the idler pullys 

when I installed it.  The belt breaking was completely (well, actually DA's 

fault for bad directions) my fault and is un-related to all my other problems.



There is not much of a way to break th belt if things are lined up properly.

In a later post you mentioned that you had moved your blower "forward": This

will have the added effect of making the outlet manifold hit the hood and

mis-align the belt runs so they rub on various parts. For 99% of the

installations, the blower should be in the REARMOST position.

-->Rearmost?...The instructions say to move it forward until the belt is in 

the middle of the idler pullys, but back seems to make more sense so I will 

check this too.



 Double check

your installation, the front bolt that goes into the cylinder head and holds

the main SC bracket should be nested right into the crook of the main

bracket front bend. You can loosen the front bolt and the rear bolt on the

exhaust bracket to move the entire assembly rearwards. Starting from

there,you can work out your belt alignment. As the belts run between the

idlers, they should pretty much "shadaw" each other.

-->I will give this a try.



Check your various clearances around the SC parts. You might need to nest

things a bit better to gain more clearance. I've beaten these cars to death

(both 16L and 1.8L with blowers on them) and have found nothing fragile

about them. It sounds like something is rubbing or hitting and giving you

bad vibes (figuratively and literally!) about running the car hard. That is

the indication something is not right with your installation. The kits are

pretty much invisible when installed correctly (from a

noise/vibration/harshness issue).

-->I don't think the SC is making any vibrations to make me worry, it is more 

an experience thing from when I broke my 91s diff gear.  But, I have heard so 

many stories about how people beat on there car that I am not too worried 

about it any more.



Your comment on the idler bracket being the right one: Not to worry, the

early versions had the tab, the later ones do not.

-->Good.



If you break a belt, you can run all day long and it will feel like a stock

Miata with a slight intake restriction. No damage will occur with your

engine or supercharger regardless of the miles traveled in this state. Your

power steering will feel stiffer, but other than the increased effort, it is

safe to drive.

--?This is great to hear..time to plan some road trips:)



 I'll go back to the broken belt - something is wrong with

your set up. I have never heard of a broken belt. Some folks get slippage

when the tension isn't set correctly, but breaking a belt requires  extreme

forces.

-->Again, as you now know it was completely unrelated.



How has your investigation gone thus far?

-->Well, I haven't had much time to poke around under the hood yet, so I 

figured I would gather as much info/help as I could and then go take a look 

after the heater warms the garage:)....This Chicago weather bites the big one.



Norman G

Sebring 1

-->Thanks for the help.

Matt

96M Sebring