It now very obvious to me. The last three years I've spent building my car has been plagued w/ a series of what somebody could consider bad luck. Multiple instances of having to do something over on just about every single thing I've touched would lead somebody to conclude that I am just incredibly vexed. It seemed that every modification I attempted required a degree of customization, and every single thing needed re-customizing 2,3,even 4 times over.
Really, really, bad luck.
But now, after yesterday I know for a fact,... I don't have bad luck. I'm just....
Really, really stupid.
Yesterday, I decide to help #2 with his squealing drive belt. The car has been making noise indicative of a loose slipping belt. His car is an 86 Mustang, with a 3.8 V-6. A 3.8 w/ factory air uses a manually adjusted, combo belt tensioner/Idler pulley.
So, I go out there yesterday,...examine the situation. I see the belt has pieces missing, I condemn it as part of the problem.
I go get another belt. I install that thing, adjust the tensioner, and have #2 start the car.
It's screaming bloody hell. Waaay worse than it did with the old belt.
It's gotta be the Idler pulley bearing I think next. Lets go get another.
Nope. The part is one piece, the pulley is pressed on the bracket, and cannot be simply replaced. I call Ford, and told that it is obsolete. I got no choice.
I have to modify the bracket, and replace the pulley.
I spend the rest of the day doing just that. The old pressed on bearing had to be drilled out. Then I had to find a universal replacement that had the right offset. Once that was done, I had to bush the 17mm hole down to a more manageable 3/8" so I could get a bolt through that worked. (17mm is smaller than 3/4,...and bigger than 5/8.....I had no 17 mm bolts, and I wasn't about to go downtown on a mad hunt for one of those big-assed things,.....I was already into this fiasco for several hours at this point.)
I finally get the thing built though. Brand new Idler pulley, square, and true.
I bolt the thing back on,...tighten the belt and again have #2 restart the engine.
Screamin bloody hell.
W. T. F.!!!!
I look at the driven accessories, which one of these pieces of crap has a bad bearing instead?
Then I see it.
After a whole day of cobbling together a "custom modified" Idler pulley,..........that now clearly didn't have a single freakin thing wrong with it in the first place.......I'm see the source of the screaming belt.
The smog pump has seized. That pulley isn't turning at all. The brand new belt is doing a burnout against the now stationary 6 rib pulley........
I'm an idiot.
Really, really, bad luck.
But now, after yesterday I know for a fact,... I don't have bad luck. I'm just....
Really, really stupid.
Yesterday, I decide to help #2 with his squealing drive belt. The car has been making noise indicative of a loose slipping belt. His car is an 86 Mustang, with a 3.8 V-6. A 3.8 w/ factory air uses a manually adjusted, combo belt tensioner/Idler pulley.
So, I go out there yesterday,...examine the situation. I see the belt has pieces missing, I condemn it as part of the problem.
I go get another belt. I install that thing, adjust the tensioner, and have #2 start the car.
It's screaming bloody hell. Waaay worse than it did with the old belt.
It's gotta be the Idler pulley bearing I think next. Lets go get another.
Nope. The part is one piece, the pulley is pressed on the bracket, and cannot be simply replaced. I call Ford, and told that it is obsolete. I got no choice.
I have to modify the bracket, and replace the pulley.
I spend the rest of the day doing just that. The old pressed on bearing had to be drilled out. Then I had to find a universal replacement that had the right offset. Once that was done, I had to bush the 17mm hole down to a more manageable 3/8" so I could get a bolt through that worked. (17mm is smaller than 3/4,...and bigger than 5/8.....I had no 17 mm bolts, and I wasn't about to go downtown on a mad hunt for one of those big-assed things,.....I was already into this fiasco for several hours at this point.)
I finally get the thing built though. Brand new Idler pulley, square, and true.
I bolt the thing back on,...tighten the belt and again have #2 restart the engine.
Screamin bloody hell.
W. T. F.!!!!
I look at the driven accessories, which one of these pieces of crap has a bad bearing instead?
Then I see it.
After a whole day of cobbling together a "custom modified" Idler pulley,..........that now clearly didn't have a single freakin thing wrong with it in the first place.......I'm see the source of the screaming belt.
The smog pump has seized. That pulley isn't turning at all. The brand new belt is doing a burnout against the now stationary 6 rib pulley........
I'm an idiot.