I am going to my first "Track Day" this weekend. I have read stories about some people breaking their pully belts (I have Alta 19% pully). I have a spare belt, but.... Can I replace belt without jacking up engine or pulling off major parts? I have seen Randys how to on pully replacement and home it's not that complicated for just the belt. Also do I absolutly need the special tensioner tool?

 

generally, when you go racing, you bring anything that could help get you home incase something breaks, id say if you need a tensioner tool to get the belt on , bring it.

also, i would bring oil, coolant, a jack, lug wrench, a small tool kit and a tire patch kit.

never hurt to be safe.

 

I am sure its possible to do it without the tensioner tool but not sure how you would do it. If possible bring a tensioner tool. You can do the belt in less than 10 min or so. Just remove the passenger front wheel and the liner and the belt is right there. Also bring something to pin the tensioner so you can hold it in place untill you are ready to release the tension ( back on the belt )

 

I've chaged mine a couple of times on ramps with only the skid plate removed. Helps if the motor's cool.
A fire-extinguisher pin or even a pocket screwdriver will work to keep the tension off. A diagram showing belt routing is very helpful, too. There's one in Randy's pulley how-to.

 

Mr.Mini - I saw this post and to self...self - did you post that? Then I noticed the DOT in between.



Happy motoring

 

How I change the belt.

Jack up the passenger front, remove wheel and then plastic wheel well. This is very easy and quite fast to do, so don't think it's too much. If you practice it, you can have this part done in around 5 min. It will save you a lot of aggravation and time then if you try and do it without this step. Real important that you don’t get aggravated during an already long day at the track.

Now you have good clear access to the lower pulleys and belt.

Remove tension from belt with the tensioner tool, a MUST have if you track the car. I use a long heavy gage straighten coat hanger to stick in the retainer hole. Saves about 3 minutes at least in trying to stick a shorter item in a very tight space.

Before you remove the belt you should have a sketch of how it is run through all of the pulleys. After a few changes you will know it by heart.

Remove the belt. Install the new belt starting with the SC pulley and tensioner pulley first, then get down into the wheel well and do the lower pulleys ending with the AC if you have one. I find this to be the best method.

You can do this whole change from jacking to lowering of the jack in probably about 20 min plus or minus 5.



DO practice this at home if you can. Know what your doing at the track so you don't get stressed out. Also, go to your Mini parts dealer and buy about 10 of the plastic push rivets and a few fender screws. You'll be glad you did when you start loosing them one by one ...