Please disregard all the rockchips on my front bumper LOL kind of embarrassing! Can't wait to get it sorted with an aero bumper which is on schedule for install this spring.

Anyway,
to the point and my sad sad story.

The belt had shredded itself completely and in its destructive process took out both oil cooler hoses so coolant had spewed out everywhere. The ATI damper was slightly scored but otherwise undamaged appearing.

About to go out and re-inspect plus clean up the mess.

Was driving on a work-related trip for a job in Lower Alabama, was driving on 65 highway which I'm thankful for because such a breakdown on some isolated back road would have been more added hassle --- I deffo favor the alternate route twisty backroads but tend to drive them on return home trips due to lack of time constraint.

Did not hear any cataclysmic armageddon happening which is surprising when I saw the massive damage. The radio was not on but windows were slightly cracked. Noticed the battery light come on and pulled off at the first next exit which was Verbena.

Upon inspection I was totally deflated,
it was soul crushing.



It was around 5:00 pm --- after the trauma shock wore off I used my phone to start looking for repair shops. Montgomery was 30 mins away but the several import repair shops I called did not answer, did get a hold of the BMW dealer there and she said they didn't work on MINI, I asked her if she knew of any good indy import repair shops around town but here answer didn't inspire confidence...

...so,
started looking for shops up in Birmingham which was 1 hour away. Getting frustrated with browsing unknown entities and just decided to take it to the damn MINI dealer there just because I'd be confident with them and they'd likely at least be familiar with the car.

Had to get a tow though. Called several companies and got ridiculous quotes, finally found one which undercut the price around $125 but still quite expensive at $250.

All said and done, my car was unloaded in the dealer parking lot at 8:00pm.

I slept in the car that night and it got cold AF, it totally sucked and I covered up with clothes but it was awkward didn't work well. I felt like Boxcar Willie on the hobo ropes.

Dealer opened at 7 am finally.

They had the belt in stock but not the hoses.
They overnighted those and had me fixed up the next morning.
They provided a valet and took me to a hotel for the evening, the service writer was really cool and offered a loaner for me to drive down to the job but it'd have to be returned Thurs. afternoon due to a longstanding appointment was already booked so it wouldn't work logistically for me.

Price tag for the repair was pretty astronomical considering if I was at home I could have done the simple job for much much less, but I wasn't at home and I was stranded.

Total financial damage:
parts/labor = $680
tow = $250
hotel = $80

The self-destructive belt was fresh, just installed it last month, it was 2018 production.



Still on original tensioner --- did replace damper with a new Stabilus + Powerflex bushings. Does the spring weaken over time? Would a weak spring induce slippage? Regardless, I have just ordered a new tensioner to give me peace of mind.

When I changed the belt last month all the pulleys were in apparent good shape but just as with the tensioner I went ahead and ordered a new idler pulley too.

Was considering one of those Alta stops but decided against it from everything I've read on NAM.
Change my mind if you've had positive experience with it.

Or,
if any other brand of tensioner stop is out there which you'd recommend I'd like to hear about it.

Another thing,
I also ordered a Gates HD belt --- those are the green ones --- anyone here ever used one?

They are popular with the muscle car crowd.



K060539HD

It is 1371 as opposed to 1374 --- I don't think 3mm shorter will be a major problem but then again I don't really know --- would love to hear any opinions on that.

Alternatively,
Gates has the RPM range of belts which were supposedly developed for supercharged engines with a more stout construction...



...anybody here ever use one?

OutMotoring has them:
https://www.outmotoring.com/gates-rp...gates-rpm.html

:

I'm really frazzled from this experience.

 

Bummer! Sorry to learn of the "grenading". There's something to be said for a AAA card when travelling. Way is working on an excellent version of a tensioner stop that used to be available from a company that went out of business some years ago. Check with him on availability.

 

Sorry to hear about the belt failure. I wonder if it was a defective belt or something else.


I have this WMW stop, but I see it says the minimum order is 100 pieces. Is this the same stop, or is Way working on a new design?
https://www.waymotorworks.com/wmw-tensioner-stop.html

Alta has a similar design besides the the threaded Alta stop designed to replace the strut in recent posts .
https://altaperformance.com/i-140071...ed-engine.html

There also was another tensioner stop available which was just a cable with eyelets crimped on each end to limit the travel of the tensioner in case of failure. They sometimes failed, I think due to bad crimps.

 

Sorry to hear man. That last belt looks nice, and made for high performance - probably overkill, but overkill is good.

 

min order 100 is usually Way’s way of saying it’s on indefinite back order.

 

It says they won’t ship until the updated design is finished.

 

Thanks guys.

I'm still on the fence about a tensioner stop due to mixed reviews - rattles + breakage in the event when it is actually needed, but it's only $20 so I may get one just to see how it is.

Also,
the adjustable damper replacement appeals to me, but seems it'd be a bear to get correct tension and would require much fiddling to dial in, and even then would the deletion of automatic adjuster to manual have negative effects as far as varying loads etc?



Anyway,
cleaning up the mess left behind today...



...fuzzy furball of a belt!

Actual remnants of the belt:




I do not think that there was a problem with that belt, it seems like a tensioner failure and I'll be able to more critically inspect it when I get it off and put the new one on.

I feel quite fortunate that the crank pulley survived, even though there is some surface scoring it wasn't as brutally assaulted like this one:

https://www.specr53.com/blog/diy/you...ner-will-fail/



That would have been another painful expense,
so I got lucky in that area at least.





Note the oil in the above pic? Unsure if blown oil could migrate onto the belt to contribute to slipping but it is a possibility. I was going to wait until I do the timing chain to fix it but now I think it is too critical and will do the timing cover gaskets as well as a new crank seal for good measure.

A hard lesson learned here and I feel like a dumbazz for not replacing the entire tensioner assembly sooner.

 

where did you get just the damper for the tensioner? I could use a spare.

I use the green belts on my r53s, I have not had one fail yet but I just switched to them this winter

 

Different vendors carry them, kind of pricey considering it's a rather small damper.

I would like to find one made by Monroe because I came across a junkyard R53 that had the Max-Lifts instead of stock on the hatch and I was highly impressed with how vigorous and stout they were, much more resistance than the Stabilus units, so much so that it was actually a little difficult to close the backlid!

http://www.monroe.com/en-US/products...-lift-support/

Maybe I'll try to investigate and see if I can find the right size from them.

Many thanks for the feedback on the green belt, sounds like the path forward to me. Would like to try the RPM version but paranoid because they are low-stretch belts and I'm unsure how they'd perform with our particular auto-adjust tensioner?

After I got home I went searching about various s/c belt issues and mostly landed in musclecarland...



...learned new phrases like "belt wrap" which I was clueless about.

Extreme examples of belt wrap:





Also,
Grip-Tec treatment really appeals to me, they offer a service for adding texture to the s/c pulley.

https://www.z-industries.com/griptec-micro/

:




It is said on various forums I read that the treatment does decrease belt lifespan for obvious reasons, but the added aspect of better grip traded out for that is a win in my book.

I haven't investigated any further yet but may try it out in the future.

 

Well the good news is since you have our ATI damper you can send it into ATI and they will rebuild it for the cost of parts. So you don't have to trash it.

For the tensioner shock we use the OEM one and keep them in stock
https://www.waymotorworks.com/superc...k-r52-r53.html

The aftermarket ones we found didn't fit right. But if you broke it and damaged the damper like in the pictures I would just get a complete new tensioner
https://www.waymotorworks.com/superc...r-r52-r53.html

We don't have any tensioner stops as we haven't redesigned them in a way that makes it worth it. The designs on the market just don't work or cause more issues including making noise so they just aren't worth installing.

The replacement alta rod is NOT a good idea as it doesn't allow the tensioner to move as it is a fixed length. So at some point it will either be too tight or too loose. The tensioner is designed to be able to move back and forth and needs to be able to work like it was designed.

 

Thanks for the input and advice Way.

Also thanks for the info about ATI rebuild service, that's rad and I didn't know they did that.

 

As far as the actual design of the belt tensioner,
what is up with it?

Why was that particular configuration chosen?

It seems rather odd and overly complicated compared to the torsion spring style which seem to be used frequently, and most of those don't even need a damper, but here's one with a damper and that style of damper seems more stout too...



...and
on the high-end heavy duty side of that style tensioner,
you see stuff like this:



Racing Belt Tensioner for Mustang GT 2005-2010 and Cobra 2003-2004 (Tensioner Only - No Pulley)

This one is for the serious racers with big blowers making more than 1000 HP. If this is you, then you have already moved past your factory belt tensioner to an aftermarket brand but nothing on the market can stand up this monster. Our racing tensioner has a 60 LB spring and is fabricated from 6061-T6 Billet Aluminum, not cast. Internal components include a TGP shaft, hardened bushings, heavy duty proprietary spring and thrust bearings make this the strongest and smoothest belt tensioner on the market. It has been tested and proven on the Dyno and The Track at over 1,500 RWHP and will reduce if not eliminate belt slip, which will increase boost and HP. To support all that power and boost we have increased the length of the boss to accommodate a double bearing pulley. Best of all it is a direct bolt on replacement for the stock unit, no brackets, fittings our adapters are needed. We offer a variety of sizes of double bearing pulleys in either grooved or smooth finishes. We are so confident that our tensioner will not bend or break that we will guarantee it for the life.
.

So much wish that someone had developed something similar for the R53, but then again maybe I'm overthinking it because the stock system seemingly works fine when in tip-top shape.

Still tho,
something like this if available for R53 would be the mutts nuts!

 

I believe RMW and sprintex both have tensioners for sale for sale

 

Yeah, but more than likely I'll be sticking with the stock M45 (unless I win the lottery or sumthin! LOL) because I have enough fun with it and it has proven to be a very durable unit.

Both the RMW and Sprintex designs closely resemble the stock set up.




.

The Sprintex version is interesting to me because they deleted the spring and opted for the other style damper.
(or maybe I don't know what I'm looking at! Can anyone explain/describe how it functions?)



.

Then there's also this one: