saablog

So I’ve given myself 1.5 hours today to begin replacing the alternator/waterpump and the power steering belts. I’ve decided after 2 hours that I need to get my real work done, so the 900 sits dismantled in the garage. The R will be spending the night outside.

Pretty much everything in front of the steering wheel seems to have been designed in reverse of convention. The hood hinges open at the front, not the back. That’s a good thing though, because all of the drive belts are at the back of the engine, accessed by sticking one’s arm and wrench between the engine and the firewall. This causes much scratching of the arms and knuckles. I actually removed the A/C belt yesterday. Today I’ve removed the A/C belt idler pulley assembly (necessary to access the power steering belt), the power steering belt, and the parallel alternator/waterpump belts.

 I’d expect the banged up arms and knuckles whille working on the car. That’s fine. But all of the coolant hoses to the heater core, and all of the A/C hoses which are routed above the belts… are ridiculous. Since the A/C is inoperative, I’m about ready to pull the compressor and all of is associated tubing out of the car. That would give me a little room for working on the more important stuff.

As it sits, the first of the 2 alternator/waterpump belts is over each spindle. It’s in the innermost pulley of the alternator and the waterpump. But not on the right crankshaft pulley. I’ll return to it later and hopefully I can get that first alternator/waterpump belt in place correctly, followed shortly thereafter by the power steering belt. Of course, I’ll need to tension the alternator/waterpump belts, which may take a miracle close to the level of actually getting the belts on in the first place.

 I really want to get this done in time to go to autocross practice on Saturday…