The V8 Owners Forum -

Hello ,

ive got a rover v8 and im going to bolt a wadeR034 to it but im not sure how to or what type of tensioner to use?

everything else is pretty much sorted but im stuck on the tensioner side of things, if anyone has any suggestions or pictures that would be realy helpfull.

thanks again

Richard

This is the one I made for mine- basically the same as the ones you can buy from the States, well I think so as never saw one to copy! Sorry not a very good pic

I've been wondering the same thing.

I'm going for a sprung tensioner I think. I read a complicated article from some science dudes which basically summed up that you can transmit more torque with longer belt life using sprung tensioner systems.

I don't know how this stacks up when you start using huge superchargers that require large power transmissions?

Modern car auxillary belt systems use sprung tensioners, but I think most have fixed tension for cam belts... Now more confused? Perhaps serpentine sytems are better of with sprung tensioners and timed pulley systems with fixed tension.

Blower belt tension is not too critical really so a fixed belt tension is no big deal. With an 8mm drive belt somewhere around 3/4 to 1" play is about where you need to be. It will get tighter as the engine warms up. An adjustable idler pulley is all you need. It is better to be loose than tight. If it jumped a tooth all you would do is loose a small amount of boost, a cam belt on the other hand must maintain tension or bad things happen. The drive side is self tensioning anyway.

Alan

Sprung tensioners have the disadvantage of being unable to react quickly enough to transient shock loads in the system. We don't recommend them at all for commercial applications as they can enable belt climb and tooth jumping way more easily than a fixed tensioner.

bigaldart wrote:Blower belt tension is not too critical really so a fixed belt tension is no big deal. With an 8mm drive belt somewhere around 3/4 to 1" play is about where you need to be. It will get tighter as the engine warms up.

Alan

Well 3/4 to 1" play is enough on a cast iron block but won't work on an ally block. Ally block's expand more so 1.5 "-2" is what you need otherwise the snout seal will be worn out before you sneese.
Have 1" play on a fully warmed engine myself with a fixed 8mm gilmer belt.

Sorry thats measured on a short run on the idler side, should have been more specific. My bad.

Alan

topcatproduction wrote:This is the one I made for mine- basically the same as the ones you can buy from the States, well I think so as never saw one to copy! Sorry not a very good pic

this is perfect, do you fancy making another .

does anyone know where i could buy one from, i keep looking on the internet but cant find anything.

thanks for all the info on the tension side of things, very usefull.

here's a couple of pictures of what its going on