jacrockett

I recently converted my 1.7L Kenne Bell to an 8-rib belt. 6-rib was slipping. The Kenne bell conversion kit didn't replace the idler pulleys before and after the blower. I didn't even make it home from the shop before one of the Kenne Bell idler pulleys disintegrated, frying my belt, the other Kenne Bell idler, and the stock (plastic) idler.

Kenne Bell only sells one size idler and it's too small for an 8-rib belt.

I went to a local parts store for help. It took a few different stores before I found someone behind the counter who would really try to help me, but of all places, Pep Boys had someone willing to rummage through pulley boxes looking for a suitable replacement. He found a much better pulley but he only had one in stock. This morning I went to my local parts shop and got another pulley.

It turns out that the timing belt tensioner for 1990-2001 Acura/Honda 1.6L, 1.7L, and 1.8L (cut off the mounting bracket and add a few shims) works perfectly, and looks much nicer too:


[IMG]local://upfiles/12498/D51E717F61E448CDB9288405DD0BB30E.jpg[/IMG]

jacrockett

Acura timing belt tensioner pulley worked great:
http://rep.racepages.com/parts/racep...howdc=true#top

I cut off the pulley mounting bracket, and added aspacer to get the offsetcorrect. There are two different colors in the picture, because I got the pulleys from two different auto parts stores.

mnile9127

I had almost the same issue with mine. The belt tensioner gave way on mine.
As always with most major mods you have to work out the kinks.
Once everything is in sync, it's a beautiful thing. That 8 rib pulley swap
looks great. I might consider doing it, once I'm able to up the boost and add
W/M.

jacrockett

I lost two belt tensioners right off the bat.... first one went in less than two hours of driving. Needed to go to a 2" shorter belt. Even still, the 6-rib belt can stretch quite a bit if you jump on WOT abruptly.8-rib belt solved all my problems.