Anyone know how this works?
http://www.myminiparts.com/proddetai...prod=TSB&cat=7

 

The top of the bar is sloted To allow movement yet limit the amount. Or do you mean has anyone installed one & had the OEM one fail?

Since it is constantly moving I'm curious how much it wears the bolt/slot over time. Also is the lower mount area strong? But for the money & repair savings potential its a no brainer. Ofcorse I don't have one yet

 

I have these one on its way from accross the pond:



Plus a few more goodies from GT Tuning. Should be here shortly. I didn't know that anyone here in the states was producing these yet, but just about the same thing. I would be happy to give a review after it arrives and it is on.

 

I made one myself, but after a while it started to rattle at idle, so I made one out of stainless steel cable, works great.

 

any pics or info on that?

thanks!

 

Cant really see much on this photo, its just a 6mm stainless cable with a crimped loop on each end which fits over a spacer on each bolt "so it can rotate freely" The trick is measuring the exact correct lenght so it takes the load just before the T on the standard strap hits. To do this I removed the belt and used trial and error with a piece of aluminium strip.

I also reinforced the idler mounting point which is very dodgy from the factory.


Hope that makes sense, its a bit hard to explain.

 

Well-done. Do you still have the measurement from the aluminum strip?

 

Yeah Andy I think its laying around in the shed somewhere, will find it tomorrow.

 

could one reverse the strap so that the strap didn't move??

 

Just got mine and the instruction says to tighten both bolts to 18 ft/lbs after idling for 30 seconds inorder to allow the tensioner to self adjust. Tighten? There shouldn't be any rattling or movement then after tightening right?

My question is how did you guys get to the bolts on the assembly? It looks like it's behind the motor mounts?

 

by the sound of it, the intention is for the strap to take out any dynamic adjustment of the tensioner as well as act as a limit/stop. that doesn't sound right, as the tensioner has to adapt to belt stretch due to wear and heat.

 

XTREEM, I like your cable solution
Please post your measurement from the aluminum strip.

 

Or better yet, make up a set and sell them. I'll take a torque limiting strap between the pass side engine mount and the frame rail too. :smile:

 

JLM I'm not sure what you mean by that?

Andy I dont know if my measurements are going to be of any use to you, as I replaced the 2 bolts which hold the little shock absorber in place with longer bolts, on these bolts I made up spacers that the cable swivels on, and I didnt record the diameter of these spacers so my measurement will be a little bit of a guess which isnt good enough. It has to be exact so as the cable doesnt take up tension to early or to late.

I think you will have to remove the spring and trial fit and tune yourself.

Misfitoy, You can access the bolts by removing the inner plastic guard.


John.

 

It looks like I'd need some stainless cable, the appropriate duplex sleeves, and a swaging tool to crimp them. The hardware looks very inexpensive (maybe $1 in materials per strap) but the swaging tool is about $200. :-( Wonder if Harbor Freight sells em? :smile:

I got prices and info from this site:

http://www.webriggingsupply.com

 

Andy, I had the cable hanging around from a previous job, the sleeves were very cheap about a dollar for the 2 from my local marine/sailing boat shop and they let me borrow the crimping tool

 

I was also going to put a bit of plastic heat shrink over the cable, but then I got impatiant and left that for next time:smile:

 

He means flip the strap/plate not strap/cable. As per photo the strap is moving with the tensioner pulley. flip it and the strap is stationary. Your design is swell.

 

andy: i got the tools and the cable...come see me.

 

Thanks John:smile:

Jlm, the instruction also mentions to recheck adjustment after 500 miles. I assume that they're referring to a new belt and the stretching should have reached it's limits by that point. Yes, no?

 

What was that brand of bourbon you like again? Hirsch? :smile:

 

yum

the standard mini uses a pre-set static tensioner, I think. maybe there is something to be learned there. I still feel there is a need for dynamic tensioning with such a long belt, but that is only intuiton.

 

I received my parts today, and my tensioner stop appears to be a bit different from yours Sid. The supplied allen head bolts are "stepped" so that they fit snuggly into the stop, but do not prevent it from moving when mounted. The tolerances are very close, so I do not expect any vibration, but the tensioner can still move dynamically as needed. If anyone would like, I can dig out the digital camera and take a few shots to help illustrate.

 

What is the goal of the part. Or what does do? I know it limits the range of the tensioner, but is it preventing slippage?

 

From the GT Tuning website:

"This product prevents the tensioner pulley & damper smashing into the crank pulley (harmonic damper) should the drive belt snap. A snapped belt is bad enough in itself, without a destroyed crank pulley and tensioner assembly too! The STD OE system relies on a small 'T' shaped twist at the end of the tensioner spring to prevent overtravel should the belt snap.

In practice the force of the belt snapping is large enough to break this off, in fact it can even break off if you miss a gear at full throttle. (this happened on our car!) The GTT Limit stop prevents overtravel in a far more reliable way. Easy to fit, & highly recommended for any MCS."