alternator belt keeps coming off!!!!! c20xe

[ggilson92]

right guys, sorry if this should be in electrical, but here goes.
bought my nova c20xe a few weeks ago and have had no end of trouble with the alternator belt coming off or flipping over. then last week, the alternator sshaft bent, i assume its hit something in the chassis to do this. do fitted the new alternator on thursday and took her for a drive this morning, guess what...belt came off again. my friend (who is very knowledgeable) says the engine is mounted too far to the left (as you look at the engine bay).
any other thoughts as to what could be the problem or has anyone had the same experiance??
cheers guys

[MattBrown]

Is the chassis leg bent where the alternator sits?

Is the belt tight enough?

And if your mates so knowledgeable, how come he can't fix it?

[Andy]

Are you running the proper gearbox spacer kit??
Ive been in 2l Nova's where the alt hits the chassis but theyve usually snapped the belts eventually rather than them come off.Is it the right belt? If it keeps coming off its obviously wrong!

[Sloth]

sounds more like the pulleys are out of line.

[John]

Alternator mounting bushes worn?
Alternator top bracket bushes worn?
Lower pulley rubber disintegrating? (seen this before where folks have chopped right through in order to fit in a nova, thus losing 50% of it's strength)
Right size belt?
Alternator mounted correctly?

If you haven't got enough clearance on the alternator then this needs sorting too!

[comptoncj]

I put a thread up about this the other day, I thought i had fixed it, its fine when the car is not moving but as soon as you pull away and blip the throttle it spins the belt over and then tries to throw it off. I have put an alternator on it and the belt rubbed on the belt cover so I spaced it with washer and then it is pretty much touching the inner wing, the pulleys are out of line but if you put them in line the belt rubs on the inner wing :S here is a photo...



http://i767.photobucket.com/albums/xx311/compton251/IMG00122-20101016-0924.jpg

P.S i will ignore your comment Matt

[Andy]

post a pic of the engine bay ie showing where the engine sits

[John]

And the bottom pulley

[comptoncj]

The only other pic i took was this one from a bit further back,

http://i767.photobucket.com/albums/xx311/compton251/IMG00121-20101016-0924.jpg

I will take another one this afternoon but to me the engine sits about an inch too far over. The car looks to have had a chassis rail put in on the other side which may have caused this as comparing it with my gsi there is a big difference in the thickness of the chassis rails.

[Rich]

Is the bottom pully fitted properly? when running watch it and see if it wobbles, if the bottom pulley wasnt done up evenly it may be sitting wonky which would throw it off.

Pully could even be bent. Is the belt straight? theres a few different alternators/mounts, some sit further in/out and when the wrong pair are mixed the belt wont be straight. if its rubbing the cambelt cover that could also be whats pushing it off

[Rich]

http://i767.photobucket.com/albums/xx311/compton251/IMG00121-20101016-0924.jpg


I would start by working out why the alternator and bracket has a spacer inbetween.

[comptoncj]

I put it there to get the alternator away from the cambelt cover, just had another look, the problem occurs when the engine rocks, the alternator hits the inner wing and then the belt throws a hissy fit.

[Sloth]

looking atnthat teh alts mounted twisted. the pulleys need to be dead in line.

[comptoncj]

I know they do, but when they are dead lined up the belt rubs on the inner wing lol

[Andy]

so then the engine is mounted wrong or your alt cut-out/bash in is garbage

[Pistol Pete]

Erm, why are the teeth for the belt showing?

And as said, mounts might be at fault. Some better pics would help.

[Sloth]

/\ what he said. id bray the living out of the leg. it has to be dead in line pulley to pulley.

[comptoncj]

The belt is like that because it flipped over when i moved the car out of the workshop, its had a n/s inner wing/ chassis leg put on it not quite correctly and its moved everything accross and there is no room where the alternator belt should run, I am going to have a look on monday at seeing if i can some how get the engine a bit further over I will let you lot know how i get on.

[Sloth]

alt cutout needs to be here;

http://i405.photobucket.com/albums/pp138/sloth_mk1_cav/legmod.jpg


and needs to go down the leg towards the floor 4-5 inches.

[comptoncj]

Yeah I thought it needed to be further down the leg, possible with the engine in?

[Sloth]

sort of.....get theback mount and cam belt end mount off, get a mate to pull it forward and get the alt off. that should be enough room

[John]

Slacken all the mounts, and prybar the engine over, re-tighten mounts.

[C612DNM]

Tell them about the nearside inner wing - it's been repaired, and the leg looks to be some 3/8" 'wide' than standard, which we reckon is part of the issue.

The "bash-in" is far too small, and to do it properly, it needs to be longer and deeper, plus welded in properly to retain the strength of the leg.

ASW used to do kits, which do the job properly. But that was in a time long long ago!

[comptoncj]

It no longer throws belts off :)

[John]

It no longer throws belts off :)

what was the cause?

[comptoncj]

The cause was the engine rocking back with the alternator on about full tension with the belt that was on it, so i removed the alternator, did a bit of sophisticated art work with a hammer and then put it all back together with a slightly shorter belt and it seems to be behaving itself for now.