AC belt
 

Is the AC belt removable after releasing the tensioner or do you have to loosen something else? I've released tension but the belt seems too tight to take off. The alt belt came right off.

Do you have both bolts loose on the A/C tensioner? Try physically moving or hitting the idler to make it move back more and allow more slack in the belt.

Both bolts are loose. The idler is freely moving up and down. Right now, the idler is it's highest position where it's not even in contact with the belt. The belt is loose enough to turn back and forth but not loose enough to get the first rib over the lip of the compressor. I tried loosening the compressor bolts and moving it up but that made the belt tighter.

I'm wondering if I have the wrong belt on there to begin with and maybe I should just cut it off and hope that the new belt is larger. I'll go get a new belt before I cut the old one.

Yes, I would get the new belt before cutting the old one. It should come right off and the new one should go on with no trouble. It could be the wrong belt to begin with. :)

The A/C belt is not necessary to make the car run, So you can cut it off whenever. I'm surprised somebody got it on there if it is that hard to get off after some age and flex.:confused:

I've seen them difficult to remove with the tensioner all the way up, figured it was a wrong belt.

One place I got one, Napa maybe???? Had the wrong size in their computer...

I just did a little snooping. The belt on there is Carquest K040330 So I looked up carquest and did a search on the belt and their recommendation is part # k040345. I'll bet that there's a 15mm difference between the two belts. The last guy to replace the belt got the wrong one and had to take the compressor off to get the new belt on. Either that or he had the crankshaft pully off and slid the belt on that way. What a hassle.

I'm still going to get a new belt before I cut the old one off just to be sure.

Sounds like a belt for an underdrive setup actually. I'm never surprised by the stories I hear of things people find done to their SVX's by former owners.:rolleyes:

I'm sorry, I'm not familiar with the underdrive setup. What's that?

That would be an underdrive crank pulley. It's smaller so the acessories spin slower and it gives a few HP by being much lighter than the stock one. Here's a pic of a crank and alt. underdrive pulley set.
http://www.subaru-svx.net/photos/fil...reak/36316.jpg

Got cha. Thanks. Does the car charge and cool as well as the reg size crank? I've read about a lot of users changing to this setup.

The water pump is run off the timing belt, So it is unaffected. It doesn't have much of a problem with just the crank pulley when it comes to charging, But adding the alt. one is just for racing as it spins the alt. far too slow for everyday driving.

By cooling, I meant the ac compressor, not water pump. It makes sense to swap the alt pulley for racing though.

Mine seems to work just fine.:)