The main belt is a fancy dual ribbed belt and drives the rest of the accessories.
As belts go, this job was pretty crappy. I know I told Bill you must do it from the bottom. Nope, all from the top. I could do it again faster but there is nothing like this kind of job on my Caprice to make you appreciate a simple vehicle. Seriously.
Don't forget the before pic for belt routing.
- To properly get at the main belt tensioner, I had to remove the air intake and air filter housing
- To be able to actually get the belt off the car, I had to remove the 3 bolts holding the mechanical fan bearing support to the block and pull it back toward the radiator. The lower left bolt (in the picture) was fairly miserable. I have cuts and scrapes from the plastic fan blades from this job on my arms.
- Remove belt and pull around the fan support arms as necessary, as it is still sitting there
As for the alternator belt, I had a lot of fun with that one, too. The issue was....the whole thing.
- Screw around and try to figure out how I am supposed to get a 3/8" ratchet at this tensioner which sits low and behind coolant hoses and pull it enough to release the belt. This took time and various tools.
- Pull off belt.
Installation was even worse. I managed to get a cheater bar on my 3/8" ratchet and wedge it against the water pump pulley so it would hold, while I screwed around trying to get the belt around the crank pulley and around the alternator. This was quite difficult as you know why (everything is tight). Eventually I got it.
Installation of the main belt was alright, not fast, but I got it.
Oh, the dual ribbed belt looked really good to me. The alternator belt did not. I am sure I could have gotten another 50k out of these, and maybe more out of the main one so whatever. Now they should be good for a long time.
Side note about the mechanical fan: it has 3 drive pins on the crank pulley and a bearing. The support is aluminum.
Other side note: I rolled into the coolant job after this but if this was it, I'd put the fan support back. On the V03 cars, there is a lower radiator hose support bracket that goes under that lower left bolt I complained about, making reassembly even more tricky. I figured it out but it took a while (can you see the trend yet?).