GM puts spring tensioners on the aluminum engined cars also. It is a better design for belt and accessory life in a stock app. It may not provide enough tension though to keep the belt from slipping on a supercharger that requires alot of power to spin.

 

I thought that they used manual tensioners on the cars. Thinking again

I am going to try the katech tensioner. Will it shorten my belt and acessory life and by how much?

 

thats a big 10-4 on the spring tensioners for the cars.

 

Ok, maybe a bit of confusion on what we're both talking about.

GM uses an auto tensioner on the serpentine belt on both the cars and trucks. I have a car and truck to look at so I know this to be a fact.

ATI uses a manual tensioner setup on the Procharger setups for the cars. The procharger on the cars runs on it's own belt, not the serpentine belt that drives the rest of the accessories like the truck setup. It is a really bad setup and belt slip is a big problem on the cars. There is a spring loaded setup for the procharger car setups that really helps control belt slip very well.

I think a spring tensioner is the way to go but, the stock GM tensioner probably just doesn't have enough tension to keep the belt from slipping on the supercharger. With the manual tensioner you should be able to crank it down pretty good.

I really can't answer the belt and accessory life question with a manual tensioner. It probably doesn't help but, I don't think I've ever heard of anyone wiping out bearings after installing one.