Sometimes bad things happen for good reasons

[WRXKANO]

Last nite on my way home from work i noticed a coolant smell getting off the highway. Drove a little further and the smell went away, i was thinking "cool prolly the car in front of me or something". No such luck, as i pulled in my drive i noticed the smell again and after opening the hood noticed that my top plastic cap on the radiator was cracked bout 3 inches long. I ordered a Mishimoto aluminum radiator and Mishimoto hose set which should be here tomorrow. I thought i'd get the jump on things and remove the old damaged radiator for less work tomorrow. After i removed the radiator i decided to inspect my timing belt which was replaced by a dealer prior to me buying the car at 77k miles, car has 99k now and for the past 6 months i've noticed a whine/ rubbing sound coming from the pass side of the engine. It turns out that there is a metal plate that is rubbing against the timing belt. I stuck a feeler gauge between the plate and the belt and it has about .020" clearance. I have not turned the crank to see if the clearance changes yet.

Does anyone know how much clearance should be there? Anybody experienced with doing this job and free tonight or tomorrow?

I look at this situation like this... If the radiator hadn't messed up, i wouldn't of inspected the belt till spring prolly. Which might of cost me a new engine. Sometimes bad things happen for good reasons.

[kreitz3]

Hmmm...I have no idea what the clearance should be.

[WRXKANO]

pic of said damaged belt

[RUH ROH]

Clearances on guides are- 1.0±0.5 mm (0.039±0.020 in)

had to look it up. I feel I should know this off the top of my head with as many motors that I put together.

[WRXKANO]

Thanks for the specs. Soo the guide in the pic was actually at the minimum end of the spec range. After removing the other two guides it turned out being the lower pass side one that was adjusted incorrectly. Went with a subaru brand belt. Now tomorrow is the radiator install...

[WRXKANO]

New belt installed. New radiator installed.