JRSC belts & pulleys: please discuss it here

I just got back from MD Automotive. I was there since 7AM in the morning til about 1:30PM in the afternoon. Mark Wilson drove down with the official Jackson Racing RSX Type S. Mark Dibella is the shop owner who bought the shop from Oscar Jackson when he retired. Keith came soon after. They put Brock's car, JR's car, and my car on 3 consecutive lifts. They examined the similarities and differences of the three cars. They went to work on my car right away. They took numerous measurements of all the pulleys in relation to each other. They determined that my pulleys were misaligned very bad. I had all my pulleys swapped out for brand new pulleys and scissor brackets. I now have new custom machined blower pulleys, brand new metal customed machined idler pulleys, and new washers and spacers to align everything as much as possible. They customed the metal idlers so that the width of the pulleys are wider and higher sidewall to keep the belt from jumping over. The plastic pulleys from before were very narrow to guide the belt. Now the idle pulleys are wide enough to allow the belt to find its own home. They put on custom washers and spacers to move the P/S pump over to the passenger side and other things in opposite ways. Mark Dibella also fixed my Throttle Position Sensor on my TB which was malfunctioning and I had a CEL/MIL of "TPS Low Voltage". I reset my ECU, and loaded my calibration again because my green immobolizer key was flashing for no reason. Once everything was secured as possible they put back on the 7 rib belt and put my car on the dynojet to do an open hood gear run to see how my belt holds up. My belt looked like it was riding on rails. There are other alignment issues with my car but there wasn't enough time and equipment available at the presence to address all the issues. The belt was kinda loose and I guess it was slipping at high rpm. I was instructed to go out for a drive and come back so they can tighten down the belt. My car is a custom prototype deal therefore all the modifications had to be done. It is a base RSX after all. They did the best they could and sent me on my way. Then I went home while they continue working on Brock's car.

Brock's car has alot of the same problems that I was experiencing with my pulleys. If you look very carefully our P/S pump is slightly tilted. They are trying their best to fix his problem. A lot of notes were taken to bring back to JR for future plans and improvements.

JR's own car is a beast. It is in flawless show car condition. Everything on this car is perfectly aligned. The car has been abused on road tracks and strip tracks and you can't get this belt to jump. This car is perfectly tuned and everything works to perfection.

Mark Dibella owner of MD Automotive formerly Oscar Jackson's research & developement center. He is a very knowledgable mechanic who has worked many years with Oscar Jackson. He can do all the install for future JRSC RSX owners.

There is talk of just having a raw engine out of the car with the JRSC kit on it to test the alignment issue and everything else. This is the best way to see all the pulleys working without anything blocking your view or measurements.

MD Automotive
7281 Westminster Blvd
Westminster, CA 92683
714-891-1113

Special thanks go out to all the people at Jackson Racing who were there on hot and very humid over 100 degrees weather to help fix my problems. They are still working on Brock's car to find a cure for the Type S.

I have plenty of pictures and a video of today will be posted later

Well I can’t go into detail like Vietech did cause I wasn’t there so I just share what I was told by Mark. He said that my alternator is actually in a different location then theirs is on their 2002 Type-S. It was just enough to make the belt ride too far to the driver side, causing my belt to jump and shred. He told me they put on all new pulleys. The idler pulleys are now deeper and wider, but I don’t know what changes they made to the blower and power steering pulleys. He told me with the adjustments they made I shouldn’t have anymore problems with the belt. He wants me to drive it hard for a couple days and report back to him. I told him that wasn’t going to be a problem . Their entire team is going to brainstorm on how they are going to fix this issue as well as contact Honda to see what changes have been made from the 2002 model to the 2004 model. They are also looking at pulling the engine out and taking a look that way. I let him know that they are welcome to my car whenever they need it. I hope this will get all of us on the right track. Thanks guys.

P.S. My brain isn’t quit working today so if my sentences don’t make sense I am sorry. I will fix it tomorrow.