Originally Posted by mgbrv8 (Post 189755)

We all know our belt tensioner's are rarer then a supermodel at a buffet. You can't find a new or old one at almost any cost so I started looking into rebuilding mine. I wanted to make sure to use basic tools with it's rebuilt so the average person could do it themselves at home. Our tensioners are made by Dayco. So I called them and got in contact with a wonderful guy named Randy. He verified my thoughts that the L98 tensioners have the same internals as our tensioner. So I ordered a new Dayco tensioner from rock auto with a discount coupon and came out to a total of $38 and it came with the pulley with the belt guides so that was handy because all you can bye right now is the smooth pulley. And I disassembled it first. The disassembly of the new unit with plastic cover is fairly straightforward the black plastic cover on the new one just pyres off with a screwdriver carefully and making sure to distribute force from one side to the other. As a safety precaution I made sure sure to wire the unit together because I wasn't sure what would happen once the plastic cover was removed I was pleased to find that it wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be and really the wire wasn't really necessary but it's a good precautionary measure. Once the plastic cover and the dampener pad and dampener spring was removed and set aside I used a chain wrench to take the tension off the stop. Once the pressure was off I could use the wooded handle of my hammer and gently tap the spring assembly back so the stop would not make contact anymore and I could unload the spring. Once the spring was unloaded all you have to do is remove the spring from the housing I did this by tapping the exposed part of the spring with a hammer and on the other side of the housing is a small hole on the back that I put a screwdriver through to tap the spring. Disassembling the old unit is only slightly different the cover which is plastic on the new one is aluminum on the old one and a litte tighter so I used a puller. I use the small quarter inch socket just a little smaller then the Center pin to press against. If you're going to use a two jaw puller make sure the jaws fit in the grooves you should be able to rent one from an auto parts store or buy one at Harbor freight and grind the jaws to fit in the groves. The rest is just replacing the old or components with the new ones. One note needs to be made though when you install the new spring use a large pair of pliers or something of the sort to compress the spring slightly to get it into the housing doesn't take much and I held the spring vertically to keep the Teflon tape from falling out.

Here is a link to all the photos of the process
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?...1&l=bb4f436b0a

David Hetrick

Originally Posted by 1LEZ (Post 264421)

I just used this thread to rebuilt mine. Perfection! Works like a charm!

Originally Posted by secondchance (Post 300376)

If you run a search for 1991 corvette belt tensioner a few new tensioners do pop up. Non Dayco though...

Originally Posted by Corvette95 (Post 306169)

Don’t suppose you have a how to or pics? Good tip either way!



Sent from my iPhone using ZR-1 Net Registry

Originally Posted by Ccmano (Post 306173)

Just go to page 1 of this thread....;)
H
:cheers:

Originally Posted by Ccmano (Post 323664)

Dave.... your Facebook link is down. Where can we find the more complete instructions you posted there?
Thanks
H
:cheers:

Originally Posted by ManPro (Post 338994)

I attempted this tensioner rebuild and cracked my back casing on the factory LT5 Tensioner while trying to tap the fresh tension spring in. I've called all around and nobody has a used/core available for sale.

I just installed a slew of new parts including injectors, radiator, ignition coils, starter, cam sensor, and knock sensor to get my ZR-1 Back up and running and now I'm dead in the water since I can't get a replacement tensioner.

Can anyone give me some guidance on how to compress the spring to fit in into the housing? I'm trying to practice installing the spring back in the L98 Donor Part casing, and I've used a vice, and a set of 20" Pliers to try and compress it and no matter what I do I can't get it compressed enough to fit back into the casing...

Originally Posted by ZBrink (Post 342569)

Does anyone have the current part # for the L98 tensioner? Everyone seems to be out of stock of the Dayco 89298 which makes me think it may have been discontinued. Or, does anyone know of another tensioner that has the same "guts"?

Originally Posted by secondchance (Post 342590)

A bit pricey but?
https://www.ecklers.com/1988-1991-co...B&gclsrc=aw.ds