So long story short I added a 15% pulley and good year gatorback 4060537.

I cant see a single hole on the back side of the tensioner and the belt feels tight. No fluid from the shock/damper on the tensioner.

Would a bad tensioner shock/damper cause this?

 

No one?

 

I'll try. Looking at the mechanics of the tensioner, I don't see how it would affect the "hole placement." That is, the length of the belt determines how much hole is showing given the diameter of your pulleys. If the tensioner is old or worn, it would affect the tension on the belt. Is your tensioner old (how many miles?) If over 70k or thereabouts, perhaps it would be wise to replace it, but otherwise, it would seem that your belt is too long for your current setup.

 

Belt has under 200 miles on it right now. Only pulley added was the 15%. Double checked my belt part number and it is the correct belt. so far no slip.

 

Out of curiosity, which belt and number did you go with?

And how many miles on the tensioner? Is it original?

 

Napa belt 060535 will give you a little over 1 hole showing in the tensioner.
I'm not sure what the length difference is between the Gatorback you have and the napa belt. I know that I ordered a gatorback for a 17% and it was too long

 

The tensioner has 34000 miles on it. the belt is what everyone on here says to buy 4060537 and according to specs is shorter than the napa 535.

 

well poopy pants... I'm lost then

 

Well no with the gatorback has spoken up about there tensioner. My belt has not slipped. I think I will just grab a tensioner stop and see how long things last.

if its not slipping and I have a tensioner stop all should be fine I assume right?

 

Hey Doc, I've seen this mentioned here before about the tensioner being replaced at around 60K.

But when I spoke with my MINI mechanic about this, I was told that for the most part, the tensioner it is a non-wearable part, not needing replacement. I was told that due to their make up & construction, they basically either work, or don't work. The latter being that somehow they fall apart from damage or corrosion and thus rendered non-functional.

Has there been some documentation to the contrary. If so, I would like to bring that to the attention of my mechanic.

 

Eurothrasher: You're on the right track--the replacement seems to be primarily delivered by failures, and the idea that after some long miles, you can replace the tensioner, install the tension stop and get a new belt all at the same time and end up just like new !! It's quite possible most parts on the Mini will outlast all of us--but remember these are the same guys who say you don't have to replace the engine oil for 100,000 miles

to the Professor: how do you know it's not slipping? Are you logging boost and rpm? If not, then it might be slipping under load at high rpm. If you don't spend much time up there, then no matter.
Thanks to Jan, and my recent RMW tune, I am now more conscious of some maintenance items on my car, and won't let them go for long without replacing them.

 

I run a 60539 with a 15% reduction pulley. Can't see a hole either. Its the second one on the car. First one lasted about 40K miles and at least a dozen track weekends. Current one has been on the car almost 10K miles and at least 10 track weekends as well as a dyno session for Jan's RMW tune. No issues.

I think the "see one hole" thing is an old wife's tale. mmm maybe I should check snopes.

Alan

 

Sounds like a plan. Is the tensioner spring linear? If so, then who cares how many holes are showing? But if it isn't then I'd be wanting more holes than fewer...

 

All I can confirm with is that I lost boost in my SC when the belt stretched. Car still runs, but not the way I want it to.

 

Hmm....I'm running a 535...Haven't looked at the hole lately. I just swapped it out a month ago. I'll have to go check.

 

I looked again today and can see about 1/4th of the last hole. Must of been the lighting before.

 

sorry to bring this one back, but having just installed a gatorback belt, I'm beginning to question if the 4060537 belt is the correct gatorback to use. I too have about 1/8 of a hole showing. I'm relieved to see that its not the tensioner.(which is what i blamed originally) I had napa/gates belt for about 9months now. when i took it off and compared to gatorback, they were about the same length. the GB could have possibly been just a hair longer!.

Another reason i think the GB is too long? my tensioner stop wouldn't work! The stop was not allowing the tensioner to tighten the belt all the way. With the stop installed, i had one hole showing, but only ran 10psi of boost because the belt was slipping about 4k rpm. I removed the tensioner stop and my boost is back to 15-16psi, but barely a sign of a hole showing.
So either the belt is a hair too long or i got a shortened tensioner stop, which i doubt.

Going to pick up a napa belt, or maybe find the next smallest gatorback and try them out.

 

Had the same problem after installing the 15% V2 pulley used the recommended 060537 and saw no holes and looked like the tensioner was really close to the other pulleys. I switched to the 060535 and now have a full hole showing and looks like a nice safe spacing between the pulleys now. Never had any slippage but looked too close for comfort if something did stretch or fail.

 

On my 15%, I use the Napa 060535 = 53.5",
then I bought the Dayco 5060535 same length.
OEM Pulley uses Conti 6PK1388=54.6"
JCW Pulley uses Gates 1374 = 54"
So there's a pattern here that if the belt number got 4 digits at the end, it's in millimeters but if it's got 3 digits at the end, it's in inches. I just divide those belts with four digits with 25.4mm and that's how I get the inch measurements to compare. That's why there's hardly any hole in the 537 because it's .2" longer than the 535. Just my .02c

 

I appreciate your logic, but I am not doubting the lengths by comparison Except I wonder why NAPA states that their 535 belt is "54 1/2 inch (1379mm)," I wonder how they measure.

Regardless, what I am doubting is if the GB 537 is the correct size, seeing that it does not display a full hole or apparently work well with a tensioner stop. I am guessing that it is the closest possibe...but not quite close enough. I'd like to try the next smallest size, but cant seem to find a catalog that lists the information.

*UPDATE* after a bit of searching it looks like the next smallest gatorback is 4060530 which is 53 effective length, and 53.75" outside. seems like that may be TOO small however.

 

Hey MUShadd,
When I was making some calls about belt numbers, the clerks I talk to just limits their answers to what's showing on their screen for mini. I went to the store and ask the clerk for the next number higher or lower on their shelf. That's how I found that Dayco even has a 535 just like the Napa and they're 10 bucks cheaper than Napa belt. The clerk was telling me all this weird numbers for Mini. Maybe a walk-in at your Gator store will give you more results.
Just a suggestion.