I'm designing a belt drive so I can put a Mercedes C200 supercharger on my nugget, and I have a tensioning problem. Having read many build threads here on GRM this seemed like the best place to ask.
I'd ideally like to use an auto tensioner, but I don't have any room for it on the slack side of the belt drive. I can however fit it on the tight side quite easily. An LS1 tensioner seemed like a good fit so I've based my design around that. If it can't be done, then the alternative is a traditional manual adjustment with a slot.
Will an LS1 tensioner be able to keep tension on the tight side with the resistance of a supercharger?
Or am I overthinking the application and is there no need for an auto tensioner?
Every factory supercharged application I have experience with has an automatic tensioner. Go watch any modern serpentine belt and rev the engine and see how much the tensioner moves.
Serpentine belts stretch a LOT under load. Like, an LS tensioner on a supercharger will go from one extreme of its travel to the other from the load of a supercharger. Made making a belt drive pretty fun.
If you want to minimize stretch, use a larger belt like a 10 rib, or use a toothed belt. Toothed belts tend to have a lot more reinforcement in them because stretching could lead to tooth engagement issues.
An automatic tensioner has to be on the slack side of the belt.
Supercharger belt tensioning is a tricky SOB, and have had the best luck with manual at least until the load on the sc gets really high. I've had maybe the worst luck with toothed belts, but in fwd installs where you can't fit a wide belt. I have shredded a few dozen over different projects and happily would take the extra adjustment and slip of a ribbed belt. If you can go nice and wide, ribbed works great.
