Loosening the fan belt

[twincamman]

With winter so near I loosened. The fan belts onbothT C. motors, I am convinced this prolongs the life of the water pump. Ed

[bast0n]

No need to do this!!

Have a look at this thread in August 2012 for the everlasting solution of twin pulleys..........

Removable Water Pump & Front Cover Assemblies

[fatboyoz]

Ed,
The route I have followed is to replace all pulleys with Gilmer Drive (toothed) pulleys, and a toothed belt to match. The belt can be run very loose with no slippage or loss of drive to waterpump or alternator/generator. The important thing though, is that there is minimal side pressure on the waterpump bearing.
I purchased pulleys and belt from Burton Power.
Regards,
Colin.

With winter so near I loosened. The fan belts onbothT C. motors, I am convinced this prolongs the life of the water pump. Ed

[Chancer]

I understand the results of excess or even moderate drive belt tension to the water pump but where does winter enter into the equation please?

[types26/36]

I'd take a guess that because its winter and the car does not get used much that he doesn't want it standing with any sort of side load on the bearing for a long time ?? ......whether that helps I have no idea

[Quart Meg Miles]

Don't slacken it in any season if you've got a dynamo unless you're not driving it, it seems to slip more than the water pump and you can quickly lose your battery charge. If you run in winter, as I do, trickle charge for half-an-hour or more before starting up from cold. It makes a big difference.

I like the sound of the toothed belt apart from the authenticity.

[billwill]

A stick of Rosin (?), as used to be used on the old flat fabric or leather belts of the old steam driven machinery, applied to the sides of the fanbelt, probably aids grip and allows the belt to run slacker.

I've had a stick of it here for many many years, because of our old steam era lathe.

[Quart Meg Miles]

Good tip, Bill, I'll try some violin rosin.

[billwill]

Good tip, Bill, I'll try some violin rosin.

I did think to mention musical instrument rosin, but I thought it might be expensive stuff.

My steam-machine rosin bar is about 2 inches diameter and used to be about 10 inches or more long, but has now been worn down to about 5 inches.

[rgh0]

It is useful to note the difference in tension on the belt between a hot and cold engine. I run my belt as loose as possible when cold so it just does not slip on start up. Once the engine is hot you find the belt is much tighter and no risk of slipping at all. I suspect many people set the belt tension when cold and then it gets to tight when the engine is hot.

When the engine is cold and stationary almost no belt tension load with how i set it so no real need to remove the load during periods of non use.


cheers
Rohan

[elancoupe]

When the engine is cold and stationary almost no belt tension load with how i set it so no real need to remove the load during periods of non use.


cheers
Rohan

+1, have always done it this way.

[twincamman]

For the cost and 3 minutes it took I feel better about doing it..With the amount of snow and salt on the roads here in winter all my cars are idle until April ..Ed

[Chancer]

Aha, so its while it remains stationary then.

Not sure if static belt tension causes the water pumps to fail but I understand you doing anything that you can to avoid problems, it wont do the belt any harm either.

When water pumps fail they leak so clearly the seal, but is that as a result fo bearing failure?

I assume so as I cant see otherwise why the belt tension in the Lotus set up causes premature failure.

Whilst on the subject why is it that the Lotus set up causes such premature pump failure compared to a normal Ford kent engine, aren't the loadings similar?

Is it just that failure on an Escort or Tincorner is a relatively simple job amongst other frequent failures whereas on the the Elan its a right pig?

[billwill]

The water-pumps can fail several ways, The seal can fail allowing coolant into the 'dry' chamber, where it in theory dribbles out of the hole under the pulley and is noticed (?) Oh, Yeah.

If it isn't noticed and the hole gets plugged with road muck, the water accumulates and gets under the inner seal of the bearing, rusts the balls and they get rattly, exaggerating the situation until it is clearly noticeable outside.

Excess side load can also wear the balls until the shaft wobbles & destroys the front seal, lets water in from the outside, which finishes off the destruction.

[types26/36]

Whilst on the subject why is it that the Lotus set up causes such premature pump failure compared to a normal Ford kent engine, aren't the loadings similar?

The TC engine uses the same water pump bearing as the 105E Anglia and MK1 Cortina (basically the pre Xflow engine) but the water pump bearing in the Xflow is slightly larger.
I have heard of the conversion to fit the Xflow bearing and I have been looking at boring a TC front cover to accept the larger bearing but I am not sure there is enough "meat" without some modification.