Real Fiero Tech

how do i be tittenin it?

Seriously though, its squealing like a mofo and I don't feel like dropping $27 on it right for a new belt. Was hoping the alternator may be able to tighten a bit and quell the screech. I though Xanth's site had a how to, but it appears to be down?

Help please! The belt squeals for the first minute or two then goes away, but if I bog it and almost stall it squeals again, but recently a couple times it has squeeled randomly on me.

You need to loosen the bottom bolt and stick a prybar between the engine and alternator to tighten the belt, then tighten the bolt back up.

If you're at the end of the slot on the alternator bracket, then you need to throw down the $27.

Rodney Dickman sells a steel reinforcement for the alt bracket where the lower bolt goes through it. I recommend one.

To my knowledge it has not been tightened since the belt was put on, so hopefully I have some leeway. I'll have too look into the re-inforcement thingy. Thanks.

Edit, not in a $24 mood either haha, famous last words as I post tomorrow, "so I broke my alternator bracket."

You'll never get rid of the squeaking without buying an idler pulley. I also recommend you look into it.

I fixed mine with DodgeRunner's pulley tensioner, not sure if he's still making them though.

I've never had a problem with a tight belt squealing. However, *getting* the belt tight is a giant PITA that just about requires two people. It's very inconvenient to tighten the adjustement bolt from above the car, but it's also very difficult to push on the alternator to tension the belt from under the car...

I suspect that belt squealing wouldn't be nearly as much of an issue if our cars had screw tensioners (or, heaven forbid, GM had migrated the Fiero over to the Gen II engine in '87, like all the FWD cars did and we had spring tensioners).

Not putting $100 in the car either, its an annoyance but it doesn't make the car un-drivable. I know the tensioner is the only way to SOLVE the problem, but I am going to tighten it and go from there. Can I tighten it from the top?

You'll need about a 36" or longer prybar that will fit between the block and the alternator, in "front" of the exhaust manifold.

You can *just* get to the lower alternator bolt from above... you may want to pick up a medium depth socket from Sears to be able to reach it properly around the belt. A deep socket is probably too deep because the frame rail is right there.

I've never seen something on a car that ought to be so easy that ends up being so frustratingly difficult as tightening the belt on a Fiero V6. That's probably why they all squeal.

Until I got the dodgerunner tensioner, what I was planning on doing was replacing the small bolt in the alternator with an Eye bolt. Then mount another bolt that runs along through the eyebolt and mounts somewhere further down on the alt bracket. Tightening/loosening the alternator would just mean adjusting a nut along the length of the bolt.

Emc209i wrote:You'll never get rid of the squeaking without buying an idler pulley. I also recommend you look into it.

Wow, guess I have fucked up Fiero's around here, in the past 20 years and probably hundreds of Fiero's, I've had no problems getting Fiero Alternator belt's tightened propely.

I don't know how so may people fuck up such a simple procedure.

CincinnatiFiero wrote:how do i be tittenin it?

Seriously though, its squealing like a mofo and I don't feel like dropping $27 on it right for a new belt. Was hoping the alternator may be able to tighten a bit and quell the screech. I though Xanth's site had a how to, but it appears to be down?

Help please! The belt squeals for the first minute or two then goes away, but if I bog it and almost stall it squeals again, but recently a couple times it has squeeled randomly on me.

It took me until the normal, non-bold text to realize this wasn't lowlux posting.

jelly2m81 wrote:

Emc209i wrote:You'll never get rid of the squeaking without buying an idler pulley. I also recommend you look into it.

Wow, guess I have fucked up Fiero's around here, in the past 20 years and probably hundreds of Fiero's, I've had no problems getting Fiero Alternator belt's tightened propely.

I don't know how so may people fuck up such a simple procedure.

How do you do it?
I get it done, but I wouldn't call it simple... conceptually simple... apparently simple, but not nearly as easy in execution as it looks.

The Dark Side of Will wrote:

jelly2m81 wrote:

Emc209i wrote:You'll never get rid of the squeaking without buying an idler pulley. I also recommend you look into it.

Wow, guess I have fucked up Fiero's around here, in the past 20 years and probably hundreds of Fiero's, I've had no problems getting Fiero Alternator belt's tightened propely.

I don't know how so may people fuck up such a simple procedure.

How do you do it?
I get it done, but I wouldn't call it simple... conceptually simple... apparently simple, but not nearly as easy in execution as it looks.

Loosen the pivot bolt at the top, raise rear of car, loosen lower bolt, use prybar between alternator and block to move the alternator back, retighten bolts.

really, I can't see how that is so difficult.

Aaron wrote:

CincinnatiFiero wrote:how do i be tittenin it?

Seriously though, its squealing like a mofo and I don't feel like dropping $27 on it right for a new belt. Was hoping the alternator may be able to tighten a bit and quell the screech. I though Xanth's site had a how to, but it appears to be down?

Help please! The belt squeals for the first minute or two then goes away, but if I bog it and almost stall it squeals again, but recently a couple times it has squeeled randomly on me.

It took me until the normal, non-bold text to realize this wasn't lowlux posting.

Congratulations on catching the point.

In the 3 years I owned the 2.8 it was an uphill battle to prevent squeal. I did the "proper" procedure as you mentioned Jelly, with two people so that there would be little room for error. As soon as I would go through a large puddle, or a torrential rain would come along, I couldn't start the car without squeal. It's an incredibly bad design from the factory. If I ever owned another 2.8 (in any car) the VERY first thing I'd buy would be a tensioner. Actually I wouldn't buy one, I'd make one, it's a fairly simple design.

jelly2m81 wrote:
Loosen the pivot bolt at the top, raise rear of car, loosen lower bolt, use prybar between alternator and block to move the alternator back, retighten bolts.

really, I can't see how that is so difficult.

Its not difficult, its just fucking stupid. Alternator belt should be something you can easily and properly change on the side of the road in a minute. There is no good reason for the stock design, since obviously much better designs fit in that location and work

Before I got the tensioner my car was chewing through belts, but since I put the tensioner in back in May 2006 I have not once had to replace the belt.

Emc209i wrote:In the 3 years I owned the 2.8 it was an uphill battle to prevent squeal. I did the "proper" procedure as you mentioned Jelly, with two people so that there would be little room for error. As soon as I would go through a large puddle, or a torrential rain would come along, I couldn't start the car without squeal. It's an incredibly bad design from the factory. If I ever owned another 2.8 (in any car) the VERY first thing I'd buy would be a tensioner. Actually I wouldn't buy one, I'd make one, it's a fairly simple design.

I'd just do an engine swap

Xanth wrote:
Its not difficult, its just fucking stupid. Alternator belt should be something you can easily and properly change on the side of the road in a minute. There is no good reason for the stock design, since obviously much better designs fit in that location and work

My wife just recently stopped and put on an alternator belt on a guys Fiero, how difficult is that?

It's the same setup basicially used for the past 90 years or so.

Aaron wrote: I'd just do an engine swap

.

Considered it, the 2.8 is abysmal in terms of power, but it will cost me $1,500-$3,000 for a swap probably. Either I'd do a 3500 for easy and cheaper or a northstar, but I think I'd rather make my 2.8 a good DD and dump the $1,500-$3,000 in my L67 car. $1,500 would get my turbo build underway.

I can honestly say I would swap out a 2.8l, even in a DD. Reliable is not a word to describe the 2.8l. Mine would fail me about once a month, and it was a well taken care of, relatively low mile engine. From the time I got the car, to the time I swapped for the far better 3.4 DOHC, I went through 3 ignition modules, a coil, an alternator, and it needed a new cat converter, exhaust manifold gaskets, and the exhaust manifolds were cracked. It's a piece of shit design, and it performs like it.

If I were ever to buy a DD Fiero (aka cold day in hell), it'd get a 3400 the next day.