Alternator belt
Took a night off for the Seattle Eastside EAA 1440 (provisional) Chapter meeting. And another night off to drink beer and celebrate my birthday.
Tonight I installed the alternator belt. I grabbed a 7355 and 7360 from Carquest. Their belts are actually made by Gates. The 7355 ended up working out well. It’s a tight fit, but the belt might stretch a bit after the engine is run. There’s about 1/4″ between the alternator and prop oil line. If the belt is too long the alternator will rub against the FAB. There’s not much leeway on either side.
Another thing that took some time was fixing one of the mounting bolts. There weren’t any threads showing above the lock nut. I removed the alternator and grinded down the mounting bushing. That plus using a thin washer did the trick.
I tensioned the belt so that about 12 ft-lbs of torque applied to the alternator pulley stud caused the belt to just slip while the starter ring gear was held in place. I read on the forum that’s the best way to set the tension.
Saftey wiring the alternator bolts was a pain. I did the inboard bolt with the starter ring gear off, but then screwed up the outboard bolt. I wrapped the wire the wrong way. I didn’t want to remove the perfectly tensioned bolt, so I re-did the safety wire with the ring gear in place. It’s much more difficult, but doable. The second time looked much better anyway.
I also sanded down the filler I put on the ramps on the top cowl. The filler is really easy to sand. It turned out good enough. I’ll perfect my filling skills around the inlets of the cowl where it will be more noticeable.
I also installed a few various things around the engine, the fuel pressure line, and the plugs for the extra holes on the sender manifold. It’s cool installing all of these various gizmos. There are fewer and fewer parts on the shelves.