Measuring JRSC belt tension

[spidermancivic]

Ok, im really getting mad now. First when i replaced the new belts and pulleys on my JRSC@6psi 99 civic si the belts were squeeling i guess because they were too loose. Then i tightened them 3 days later and then it was running fine. Now 5 days after tightening the new belts, they snapped.

Ok, now can someone help me find the info on how to properly measure and adjust the belt tension on my JRSC si.

Ive been told to just adjust it until it feels and looks tight enough.............doesnt work for me. I know theres a better and more accurate way of doing it.

[daboynblu]

belt dressing does wonders.

[spidermancivic]

Originally posted by daboynblu:
belt dressing does wonders.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">What are belt dressings?

[CROM]

A "squeeling belt" can also be indicative of a belt being too TIGHT. I have never heard of someone snapping a belt, you must have had them extremely tight to begin with.

Install the belts till they seem pretty tight but you are able to push relatively hard against them with something and deflect half an inch to 3/4 of an inch. Then use your boost gauge. If you notice that your not holding boost at high loads, then they are not tight enough.

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ February 25, 2004 11:27 PM: Message edited by: CROM ]</font>

[spidermancivic]

Originally posted by CROM:
A "squeeling belt" can also be indicative of a belt being too TIGHT. I have never heard of someone snapping a belt, you must have had them extremely tight to begin with.

<font color="#a62a2a"><font size="1">[ February 25, 2004 08:38 PM: Message edited by: CROM ]</font></font>

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">So can someone tell me how to properly do it? I heard the belt needs to be tightened between 90 - 120 lbs, but how would you be able to measure the tension, and with what?

[BXSI]

I use the something similar to croms method, check to see how boost is holding at high rpm once tightened. A pretty good rule of thumb is the belt should flex the width of the belt itself when pressed on.

[zort]

Exactly, put up the belt until it is tight enough and go for a run keep on tightning the belt until the boost stop dropping espically in first gear you will get the most slippage in this gear. I ususally turn the tensioner in half turns.

zort

[CROM]

The only way to <font size="17">properly</font> do it is to get an expensive tensionometer and measure it that way. I believe the JRSC install instructions came with the proper belt tension specifications. The tool isnt cheap though and 99.999999999% of us JRSC owners have always used the deflection method to adjust our belt tensions. So unless we are just lucky, you are doing something wrong.

So that is the CORRECT way to do it, but don't listen to me, I know nothing about installing belts or superchargers or any of that ricey nonsense

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ February 26, 2004 12:20 PM: Message edited by: CROM ]</font>