<VV> Changing a fan belt

[Tony Underwood]

At 07:47 hours 07/16/2004 -0400, Retting Family wrote:
>When changing a fan belt on a 65 Monza, is it necessary to remove the oil
>filter?  I can't seem to fit the belt in the small space between the oil
>filter and the car body.  Thanks.

It shouldn't be.   A lot depends on whether or not the engine was ever
removed for whatever purpose and reinstalled and the rear mount bolted up
tight with the drriveline situated just a little bit too far back.   You
*can* move the driveline back and forth a tad, just by loosening the rear
mount nuts.    The motor mount bracket is slotted to allow the engine to
move forward or backward a little so as to settle into the mounts without
things binding up.   

Just for funzies, you also might wanna check  the fan belt itself... the
wrong size belt (more than 3/8" wide) may have trouble fitting between the
filter and the rear "frame" box tube member.    

If you want to avoid a bit of hassle, loosen the oil filter bolt just
enough to allow the filter to tip forward enough to let the belt pass
between it and the box tube member.   If you wanna fix it for next time you
need to replace a fan belt, loosen the two nuts on the rear motor mount and
do some "nudging" with a piece of board etc and pry the engine forward
about 1/8" to 1/4", pushing against the harmonic balancer bolt via the
motor mount as the pivot point, and retighten the mount nuts when there's
enough space to get the belt between the box tube and the filter.     Don't
push against the outer rim of the balancer.   The engine/transaxle should
move forward slightly without your having to crawl under the car and loosen
the transmission mount bolts etc.    And once the motor mount nuts are
retightened, with any luck the engine will stay there.    

Sometimes moving the driveline around like this will have a slight effect
on the position of a manual gearbox shift lever, but a PG car won't matter.
  It's all adjustable from under the car.     

Now, if the fan belt you're trying to install is too wide, all bets are
off.   Usually any correct belt will sneak past the filter and box tube
member unless something is out of line or the driveline is installed too
far back in the engine bay.   


tony..