tensioner springs

Kevin Leitem

Registered User
Magnum Powers is now selling new springs to go inside our tensioners. The springs are a lot stronger than the stock ones. they are about the same stiffness as what comes on the Ford Lightning. So there shouldn't be any concerns about them being too stiff. It took me about 5 minutes a piece to change them out myself. If you had an extra set of hands it would make it very easy mod. he is selling them for 40.00 a pair.
 
woot! Finally! I checked Spinning Wheels and SCP and its not listed on either vendor's site so would I be right to assume you order them direct through MP?
Anybody know how much pressure these new springs'll put on the belt?
 
Kevin.... Hey, Could you please possibly do a 'How-To' write on how you did this precedure. Charles told me how over the phone, but I was not in front of my car to follow him. I have a set coming in the mail along w/my MPIII.
If you could do this I and others, I'm sure would appreciate this.:)

Thanks.

Jeff B.
 
It is actually pretty simple. i put the locator pins on the back in the vise to hold the tensioner. looking at the front of the tensioner. there is the steel plate. in the middle of that plate(where the bolt goes through to attach the tensioner) there is a square piece of aluminum. that steel plate is just pressed on to that square aluminum. I just pried off the plate. you will bend the plate, but i just hammered it flat again. the plate may fly off with a little force, but nothing serious, just be careful. remove old spring, install new one. on the other side, the slot that the spring tab rode in must be enlarged to accomidate the larger spring wire diameter. mate the 2 pieces. this is where a friend come in handy. now you have to rotate tensioner to get the preload on the spring. before you take apart the tensioner, just look at the spring tabs and see their position to each other. with the tensioner cocked enough put the steel plate back on. it will need to be pressed back on. i just used a socket just large enough to fit over the aluminum piece and hammered it back on. when i hammered it back on i had the tensioner sitting on the bench so the pins would not break while it was in the vise. then i just used a center punch and dimpled the aluminum to make sure it is nice and tight
 
supercatxr7 said:
So does this mean you are doing away with the helper springs you put on the car last year?
i am going to start at 25% with just the new springs, then work my way to 35% OD. I may still need my helpers at 35%
 
Finally an answer to an SCer's worst problem. Good to see another new part for these old cars :). I'll be ordering a set this week.
 
manual

There is a manually set, no-spring tensioner available for about $275, though it made need some base plate modification, too. What are your thoughts on this?
 
Sharon Silver said:
There is a manually set, no-spring tensioner available for about $275, though it made need some base plate modification, too. What are your thoughts on this?
with the stretching of the belts under boost we have to have a tensioner that can adjust to the stretching belt. A solid tensioner works on a coggged belt setup
 
I'm curious as to how much tension these provide. These are definately a good deal, and a much needed improvement over the stock tensioners, but I just want to know how much more tension they provide. Has anyone actually got some quantitative data on them? It would be nice to see exactly what we'd be purchasing, that's all.
 
I tested a stock tensioner tonight with a torque wrench and it went to 11 ft lbs at the full tension. the new spring went to 30 ft lb.

007_SuperCoupe said:
I'm curious as to how much tension these provide. These are definately a good deal, and a much needed improvement over the stock tensioners, but I just want to know how much more tension they provide. Has anyone actually got some quantitative data on them? It would be nice to see exactly what we'd be purchasing, that's all.
 
Kevin Leitem said:
I tested a stock tensioner tonight with a torque wrench and it went to 11 ft lbs at the full tension. the new spring went to 30 ft lb.

Thanks, Kevin. That's what I wanted to see. It's nearly 3x as much tension. That's great!
 
springs..

I put my springs in tonight. It was actually a lot easier than what i thought, just follow Kevin's instructions. Definitely can tell there is more tension and the lightning spring is thicker than the stock spring. Don't know what it did for me yet as I have some crushed fuel lines I am replacing as well.
 
I put mine on tonight and theres a hell of a differnece. I cant say in boost because I peg the stock gauge, but in response. I can stomp on the gas and it will jerk the car. Before it would be more of a surging feeling. This is a must have for anyone.
 
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