Belt tensioner help

[Lanes84s]

I have a stock SVO engine without AC and I have been having the worst time with the stupid belts! I have gone through 2 belts that have been destroyed because they flip upside down (gator back up) and wear through in a matter of days. I'm getting rather POed because the tensioner on this car is the dumbest thing I have ever seen! How do you guys replace the belts on you SVO? The first time I replaced the belts, I lifted up the alternator as much as I possibly could while tightening the bolt. Then I lost one belt and the other belt got destroyed so this time I had someone else pulling up the alternator while I tightened, if I would have drove it any further the same thing owuld have happened. Someone explain how the hell you get the darn belts tight on these cars!

[MikeFleming]

Too tight can be worse than too loose.

Are your pulleys properly aligned? None bent?

[Lanes84s]

Well at this point the belt started being tight enough that it didn't move more than a quarter inch...now it moves almost 2 inches and I'v driven it about 40 miles. I put over 500 miles on the car with the old belts so can I safely assume that everything is good there? The pulleys look weird in my opinion...the pulley attached to the cam (the biggest pulley) has 3 grooves on it and I put it on the two outside ones because that's where it appears to be most in line

[Kendal Coker]

Are you buying matched set belts?

[SVO4PWR2]

post a pic of your set up

-RICH-

[Lanes84s]

I am at school and I'm a long way away from the parking structure so it'll be a while till I get pics of the engine bay later...My whole issue is how you guys get tension in the belts! I have 2 15530 belts on there....I just need to know how you tighten your belts!? There's no place the pry the alternator up and I can't see any way to really get it tight...Leme know how you tighten your bracket and I'll get a picture out later

[in2fords]

I have the stock 2.3 N/A 84 brackets so YMMV, the alt bracket/tensioner is double sided, its adjustable at the alt and where it mounts to the power steering bracket.

[MikeFleming]

For 84 you should have a 2-groove crank, 3-groove water pump, 2-groove alternator and 2-groove PS pulley. The outer (3rd) one on the water pump goes to the AC compressor.

You should be using ONLY the rear-two grooves on each pulley.

85+ used a 3-groove crank and a 2-groove water pump pulley (with 2 in Alt/PS). The AC was driven directly from the crank. Still use the two rear-most grooves on all pulleys.

If you're using the outer 2 grooves on a 3-groove pulley, that's your problem. And 30 minutes sounds about right to destroy the belts.

NEW belts should be tightened to about 1/2-3/4" free-play with ~15Lbs of force across the longest free section, PS pump to crank on the bottom.