Getting belted pt.2

[Tim Rogers]

The problem was not with the belt being too big, but rather with the pulley
being too narrow.  I assume that the alternator had been changed at some point
in the 91's history and the one that went on was a rebuilt unit that had the
wrong pulley installed, or one taken out of a junker GA16.  So, I felt a
little bit better about my situation on the side of the road in CA, since I
didn't realize that the car had come to me with incorrect parts, but if I had
been a bit more observant, I would have seen that the crank and AC pulleys had
5 inner grooves and the alt. had only 4 inner grooves.
Well, I swapped pulleys and put the alternator in and drove around fat and
happy for another 4 days when this alt. seized a bearing once again and I had
exhausted my supply of spare alternators.
I thought back to when I did my belt change on the street car and realized
that I had probably been tightening the belts too tight, as the belt had been
squealing when I first did the change and I had then tightened it down too
tightly in subsequent changes.
Vowing never to tighten the pulley too much again, I went to the Sutherlin
Nissan's Mall of Georgia location to order 2 alternators.  I went in with my
'02 convention shirt on and when I walked up to the counter, the parts
manager, Chris Ellison asked "where did you get that shirt!?"
Well, a short story later and Chris orders me 2 alternators and gives me a
discount down to $199.00 a piece, but they will take 3 days to arrive.  It's
nice to get a $120.00 discount for wearing a $15.00 shirt - kudos to whoever
designed that puppy!
Well, I was left with a non-functional alternator still, so I went to Advance
Auto Parts and tried my luck with one of their rebuilt models.  True to the
knowledge passed on by this list, the regulator went out on it within 24 hours
(120 miles).  I knew that it was a short-term solution, but crikey, that was
really bad!
I went home and put the battery on a charger and got my Nissan alternator the
next day.
After 5 days of the correct alternator, the correct pulley, and the correct
belt tension, I am proud to say that I am now an expert on changing
alternators in a B13 (take them out over the frame rail on the pass. side,
loosen,but do not remove the bolts on the radiator and passenger side motor
mounts, and remove the bolts on the A/C lines on top of the frame rail so that
you can move those as far out of the way as you dare.)  I think this is the
Ray Kawski method.
Thanks to this list and Sutherlin Nissan for getting me reliably back on the
road.

Tim Rogers
-'93 NX2000 T-top
-'91 NX2000 SCCA ITS racer-to-be
-'75 Silverado tow vehicle