I've got a couple of hundred miles on it and it's doing fine. Belt hasn't loosened and no flops. One good way to tell if your belt tension is tight enough is: the fan should not be able to be turned by hand relative to the pulley. If it turns, it is slipping.
When I started this project, I started grinding both the alternator and the AC bracket (on my spare Eco engine) for mock-up. Now that I am done, I now realize that no grinding is necessary unless you want to use the stock 13 x 947 AC belt (which I am not sure if it is possible without taking too much metal off). Just use a longer belt!
Fatmobile, what was your reason to do all that grinding?
at some point in time on the hillbilly forum I remember it being to use the shortest belt possible. I used a gates 13x965 I think those gates belts are beastly I doubt one would ever wear out one of these setups if it was always tightened up and kept up with.
most VW pulleys are 10mm tho..
13mm belt in a 10mm pulley is less than stellar..
The pulley I used was bigger probably cuz the belt fit a bit deeper than stock. Not perfect but as long as the things spins and charges I'm ok with it
This setup worked great until last week, when I heard the belt squealing. Turned out the upper turnbuckle bolt was missing! Maybe I didn't torque it down good enough? While I put in a new bolt (with 2 nuts to lock it this time round), I took the opportunity to replace the alternator with a low miles spare and it took less than 15 minutes start to finish! When I had the AC compressor with the stock tensioning setup it would have taken a good part of a day! I am glad I made this mod.
It would be easy to keep the locknuts in place by drilling them for safety wire. And nothing moves after that. Looks cool, too.
It would be easy to keep the locknuts in place by drilling them for safety wire. And nothing moves after that. Looks cool, too.
Like every bolt on a commercial aircraft! Great idea.
Fatmobile, what was your reason to do all that grinding?
Like mentioned I wanted the shortest belt possible,.. just happened to end up with the stock AC belt fitting best.
Glad to see this is working out so well for everyone mine has been working great for years.
Fatmobile, what was your reason to do all that grinding?
Like mentioned I wanted the shortest belt possible,.. just happened to end up with the stock AC belt fitting best.
Glad to see this is working out so well for everyone mine has been working great for years.
I found out after grinding that it was not necessary if you use a slightly longer belt.
The turnbuckle tensioner failed on me a few months ago. I was a bit skeptical of it being aluminum with 2 loose fitting threads. Sure enough the threads in the aluminum all stripped and the belt squealed. I made a tensioner out of angle iron and a bolt. Nice and simple and easy to adjust. Should have done that in the first place instead of the mickey mouse turnbuckle.
It's been fine for a few months without needing adjustment but only extended time will tell.
I know I'm digging this one out of the vaults, but this seems to be the most comprehensive thread on the subject and I thought I'd add some numbers... maybe this is worth adding to the FAQ even?
Just finished pulling the A/C compressor out of the mix on an otherwise stock 1.6n/a mk1. This was a forced issue after one of the a/c compressor pivot bolts snapped off in the bracket. I've been wanting to ditch it properly for years, but of course don't have the parts handy when the bolt broke, and need the car back on the road asap.
Picked up the double pulley that is referenced here, easy-peasy swap with the stock alt pulley. As stated, the new pulley does NOT have a woodruff key, so hopefully it won't slip. With the new pulley on the stock a/c alt, mounted in the stock position on the stock bracket, the belt grooves lined up perfectly and the stock alt tensioner reaches fine. After many, many trips to NAPA, the belt you need for this swap on a mk1 is NAPA XL 25-9455 (made by Gates). I had originally bought the belt that Toywagen sells with his pulley (17415... cross references to Napa 25-9415), which was much too small. 25-9451 *almost* fits, but not. 25-9455 fits perfectly--it's at the far end of the stock tensioner when installed (in fact I had to slip the belt into the groove before putting the pivot bolt in the alt) so there's plenty of room to take up wear. I don't know why the toywagen belt wouldn't fit, unless his pulley happens to be much smaller.
Hope it works. Maybe one day I'll get the "right" brackets and alt and swap it during a timing belt change, but for anyone looking for a quick easy way to solve the issue on an a/c mk1, you can be back on the road quickly this way. The a/c bracketry is bolted in under the IP, so swapping them is a lot more involved.
Luke
what about using the aba later model kit ?
it's pricey thou