Fiataccompli
Chris Granju
background: A minor detail in getting my derelict 79 X1/9 able to drive to the store get its own fuel.. but the voltage was very low, alternator quite suspect & definitely the belt was not tight enough at the full end of its tension adjustment. Out of a half million very close v-belts I have on hand, even the closest to what I had leaves the belt looser than it should be. So, with old belt in hand to get a belt the next increment shorter,I visited a local parts store...turns out what we landed on was what their database calls for the car I found out later (840mm outside...which actually is what the label on the old belt translates to...so it's stretched I'm sure, of course).
Question is simple...should a properly sized belt be a real pain in the neck to install? I was expecting to simply rotate the alternator, slide belt on with only minor cursing, rotate away, tension & tighten. Looks like with taking the alternator out of both bolts, it will go in place (and hope to have a minute to do it so this evening), but is this normal? This makes it quite tempting to elongate a stock upper bracket (basically, cut & weld on another 1/2-3/4" or so of adjustment), but I've never heard of this being a big deal. Maybe this car has some funky water pump pulley on it? hmmm...really just curious on this. There are a number of ways to resolve this, but I don't have a feel for what's "normal" for this with 99% of my experience with Fiats being twin cam cars (and my '85 has a GM alternator with an upper bracket about a quarter mile long).
thanks in advance.
Question is simple...should a properly sized belt be a real pain in the neck to install? I was expecting to simply rotate the alternator, slide belt on with only minor cursing, rotate away, tension & tighten. Looks like with taking the alternator out of both bolts, it will go in place (and hope to have a minute to do it so this evening), but is this normal? This makes it quite tempting to elongate a stock upper bracket (basically, cut & weld on another 1/2-3/4" or so of adjustment), but I've never heard of this being a big deal. Maybe this car has some funky water pump pulley on it? hmmm...really just curious on this. There are a number of ways to resolve this, but I don't have a feel for what's "normal" for this with 99% of my experience with Fiats being twin cam cars (and my '85 has a GM alternator with an upper bracket about a quarter mile long).
thanks in advance.