ill be putting this belt on at lunch ill report after !

 

worked great!

 

Awesome. I'm gonna go pick one up.

 

I really can't agree here. I've owned a supercharged BMW and within 1000 miles on a gatorback belt, it had stretched beyond what the tensioner could deal with. Also ran in to this problem on a supercharged miata, belt went from too tight to maxing out the tensioner in less than 5,000 miles. Although, neither of these cars were on soft tensioners, but I would not expect that to be common in a supercharged application anyway.

Maybe you are thinking of gates belts which are extremely durable, yet more expensive. Another place (in my own opinion) where you get what you pay for.

 

Nope, I'm well aware of the difference between Gates and Goodyear. I was referring to use in factory supercharged cars with overdriven pulley's. I believe you are referring to aftermarket supercharger applications, which is where I believe our difference in opinion lies.

Regardless, I agree that Gates makes great belts. However, since we are talking about a regular, run of the mill, serpentine belt for an Evo, it is my opinion that a $26 Goodyear belt is more than adequate. And since I've been running one for 36k miles now without issue at significantly higher than stock HP levels, I would say that real world experience backs up my theory.

Now, if all of a sudden I read about Goodyear and Mitsu serpentine belts snapping and stretching all over the place, I might consider the added price premium of a Gates belt. Or perhaps if I was running a destroked 2.1 revving out to 9500 rpm, I would consider it, but for the average evo owner reading this thread, I don't think there is any justification for the extra cost of a Gates belt, unless they are just looking for peace of mind.

 

Oh I completely believe that on a stock application a goodyear belt would be adequate. I was just commenting on their performance in high demand applications, not something we have to worry about spinning an a/c condenser and p/s pump.

 

The gates belt ended up going on fine for me. I still dont know what the issue was with the other belt.

 

4060705 still impossible to fit it on my 2003 evo, am i retarded or what??

 

I believe so. Check the diagram in the service manual to ensure you are routing it around the pulleys in the correct order.

I can't remember exactly, but I believe I routed it around all the pulleys in the correct order, leaving the spring tensioner pulley for last. With my Proto 1/2 in torque wrench in my right hand I turned the tensioner towards the rear of the car (counterclockwise) and with my left hand I slipped the belt over the top of the spring tensioner pulley and released tension. I've done this by myself no less than 3 times now, for cam gears, cams, and then timing belt and water pump replacement. And I'm 100% sure that the belt I listed fits.

I believe you can also use an allen key, screwdriver or drill bit in the pin to hold the tensioner in the back position if you need 2 hands to slip the belt over the pulley.

 

 

Your not doing it wrong, it wont fit...Ill let you know the right size tomorrow, I messed around with this for quite a while last weekend but eventually found the correct size.

 

i just got 710 belt, 0.5in longer, we ll try it tonite

 

I really don't think there is a difference in belt length among CT9A Evo's with the exception of the JDM RS' with no factory AC. That is unless you bought the car used and someone installed an underdrive pulley on it and you don't know it...In which case you are probably better off changing the pulley back to stock while you're at it.

But who knows, maybe Mitsu decided to change things up a little on random cars. That or you're doing the install wrong and not taking all the tension out of the tensioner or locking it back fully. All I know is myself and others run this belt and it fits for us

 

here's a diagram a friend told me about. it's pretty much a staight forward install. if you have someone who can help you install it should only take about 30 minutes max. first time i did on mine it took over an hour because i wasn't routing the belt correctly. once i saw this diagram it took about about 10 mins to get belt on and 20 mins to get splash gaurd and wheel back on

http://www.doocu.com/pdf/view/23490

 

My last IX was very easy to do with the goodyear. This time it was pretty tight and I had to rotate the crank (clockwise only!) to feed the belt on. You can usually just slip it over one of the idler pulleys but this was tighter. The tensioner is extended slightly more than I'd like it to be, but it should be fine.