problem replacing fan belt
 

Im having some problems replacing my fan belt. I can't get the new belt to seat properly, it keeps wanting to twist. I've tried 3 shims on the inside, then 4 shims, then 5 shims and now 6 shims and it still wants to turn. Not sure what to do here.

Could it be a bad belt?

86 911 3.2

when you say turn do you mean flipping inside out? explane how you are tightening the nut on the fan. are you letting the belt "ride up" in the groove as the two cones are tightened? or is the belt being pinched between the two halves of the pulley? as you tighten the belt, it should be walking up the pulley, I turn the engine a few degrees during the tightening process to help this along.

Why did you take the belt off? first time? glad it's not on a freeway on ramp? remember your 4-P's.....

Is the belt too loose? Is so you must move shims to the outside so that the belt rides higher up on the pulley and thus is tighter. I had to move all 6 shims to the outside to get mine right - started with 5 and then about 100 miles later moved the last one out.

Seems that the extra belt that was in the car wasn't the right one, it was too thin and kept twisting. Bought a new one today and it went right on, no issues whatsoever. Only wasted ab out 3 hours trying to figure out WTF was going on. I used two shims on the inside, but might go down to 1 shim to tighten it just a little more.

Thanks to those who replied.

BTW, for anyone wondering, auto parts stores have the wrong belt listed in their databases...For a 1986 911 3.2 Carrera, they all have a 10" belt, this will be too loose, you need a 9.5" belt. Even Pelican has two listed for this car, one 10" and one 9.5". The proper one is here...

http://www.pelicanparts.com/cgi-bin/smart/more_info.cgi?pn=999-192-176-50-M100&catalog_description=Alternator%20or%20Air%20P ump%20Belt%2C%209.5%20x%20710%20%28NOT%20a%20Servi ce-Free%20belt%2C%20may%20require%20retensioning%29%2 C%20911%20%281974-75%29%2C%20911%20%281980-89%29%2C%20911%20Turbo%20%281976-79%29%2C%20911%20Turbo%20%281986-89%29%2C%20Each