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Replacement bracket for RIPP tensioner

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Thermaltake1

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
I am new, but I tried to contact RIPP directly (I got an email saying they no longer support the Eclipse Supercharger and that was that), and I can't seem to find anything on here or Google, so hopefully someone knows this.

I bought a modded 3G it from a dealer that took it in on a trade and drove it home (300 miles) and about 20 miles from the house I heard a loud "CLANK" and pulled over, but couldn't see anything visibly wrong (it was 10pm) and decided to just get home.

Got home, noticed the battery light was on, popped the hood and saw the Alternator belt (the one that drives the RIPP Supercharger) was snapped.

Today, took pictures, turns out the bracket to the tensioner (apparently) wasn't screwed in tight (or at all) because the damn thing's missing!

Can I buy a replacement part for this? Picture attached. I'm kinda screwed as I literally just bought this thing and now I'm ordering bloody parts...

I can't find anywhere that sells aftermarket RIPP replacements...I found a place that rebuilds the internals, but not the bracket/mount.

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Discussion starter · #3 ·
Silvertune said:
There is no replacement part. You will have to come up with something custom on your own.
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I was afraid of that...I'm surprised nobody has ever had this happen. I know that dealer must have been pulling something as I had all sorts of lights coming on, and the fact that this wasn't bolted in correctly means it probably was installed wrong recently and/or at their shop, hence why it was for sale.

Does anyone have an instruction booklet for the install for this? Once I find the belt # and figure out how to weld or mod this to stay on, I need to learn how to set that tensioner.

They never made tensioner replacements? What is it breaks at some point? Have to strip the whole setup?
 
#4 ·
The SDS has been out of production and support for years. You'll be lucky to find a working link to anything on here. You are dead in the water if you can't figure something out for yourself. The SDS is unreliable, aging and has no off the shelf fixes. If your state has a lemon law I'd go get rid of it while you can.

That tensioner falling off is probably consequential. Those whimpy aluminum things never did much in practice other than break.
 
Discussion starter · #5 ·
Silvertune said:
The SDS has been out of production and support for years. You'll be lucky to find a working link to anything on here. You are dead in the water if you can't figure something out for yourself. The SDS is unreliable, aging and has no off the shelf fixes. If your state has a lemon law I'd go get rid of it while you can.

That tensioner falling off is probably consequential. Those whimpy aluminum things never did much in practice other than break.
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Unfortunately NJ lemon law exempts the car because it's more than 7 years old, even though it only has 40,000 miles...I had picked it up because I used to have a 3000gt, so the motor seemed familiar, and I didn't expect to run into issues within 72hrs of my purchase...

I can probably weld the bracket in place as it doesn't really move much, so lining that up should be OK, but I'm not sure how to set the tensioner...as you said, most of the links are dead and support for anything ended years ago. I just can't believe the dealer never screwed the bloody bracket in when they (obviously) replaced the belts...I could've snapped the power steering as well at 65mph, you know? :( I'm "lucky" it's just that...but now i'm stuck with a $10k show car that can only look nice in my driveway...check engine is flagging cause it's probably running stupidly rich and lord knows what else (was going to go to shop Monday to get the car checked out...scratch that). Won't pass an inspection and if I put a standard belt on, I'm not sure if that will do any damage to the engine with the current setup designed for the supercharger being active...
 
Discussion starter · #7 ·
fclass308 said:
Carry the lower half of the bracket to a machine shop. It will be super easy for them to build a replacement upper half. There may be a good reason it was not welded from the factory.
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You made a good point. There's a shop a few miles away, I can call them tomorrow...issue is driving...no alternator, no water pump cause the belt is gone...I guess I could throw a standard belt on there and bypass the SC, but will that cause engine damage running as rich as I'm sure this thing is tuned for?

Anyone know what belt # the RIPP used? I can find an article on the 4g's, but nothing on the 3g's. Assuming they can machine it, that's my next step.

I also heard (as previously mentioned) the tensioner is going to be a problem...has anyone found a suitable replacement tensioner for it?
 
Discussion starter · #9 ·
Silvertune said:
You water pump is timing belt driven buddy.
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Guess I was looking at the wrong cross section...having a hard time finding information...so basically all I lost was the alternator when the belt snapped?

Do you happen to know a replacement belt? I had Advanced Auto try to find something the same length, he came back with a Ford belt, but he wasn't sure. RIPP doesn't have the belts listed anymore :(
 
#10 ·
Belt length will depend on your pulley setup. Lots of info on that buried in this forum. Google "club3g SDS belt size" and start reading.

This car will be a nightmare for you. Given its mileage I'm betting it has the Ripp electronics which means you'll blow your engine up if you drive it regularly before fixing it. SDS cars shred belts constantly and get pooped on by basic 3.8 swapped cars. You'll also pop the diff eventually.

The list goes on.
 
Discussion starter · #11 ·
At least she's a pretty addition to the yard... :rant2:

Image

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I was so damn happy when I bought this car, although it went against my better judgement, I had always wanted one, and since I am only in America for less than a month, I thought 'what the hell' you know? Now I feel like I'm in the movie Money Pit :facepalm:
 
Discussion starter · #12 ·
Silvertune said:
Belt length will depend on your pulley setup. Lots of info on that buried in this forum. Google "club3g SDS belt size" and start reading.

This car will be a nightmare for you. Given its mileage I'm betting it has the Ripp electronics which means you'll blow your engine up if you drive it regularly before fixing it. SDS cars shred belts constantly and get pooped on by basic 3.8 swapped cars. You'll also pop the diff eventually.

The list goes on.
Click to expand...
Great, no idea how to tell what that is. I've been doing just what you said (googling belt size) for the better part of an hour with leads to 4g models.

Car was a show car, interior is all redone, so apparently that's the reason for the mileage. And it does have RIPP electronics in the engine bay, so that's just wonderful...can't even drive it to the shop to get a fix...nice :facepalm:

The more I'm reading, the more I realize what you're saying, it just really blows as this car wasn't a 1st choice, but rather the dealer sold the one I wanted and this was an alternate he said was reliable with a bit more power than stock...I've been in Japan too long, I trust people at their word.
 
#13 ·
The fixes are cheap and not difficult for people who know the V6 platform but it would appear you haven't gotten your feet real wet (I say that respectfully). I'm curious, if you're in the country for only a month why buy a car? Much less a car like this?
 
Discussion starter · #14 ·
Silvertune said:
The fixes are cheap and not difficult for people who know the V6 platform but it would appear you haven't gotten your feet real wet (I say that respectfully). I'm curious, if you're in the country for only a month why buy a car? Much less a car like this?
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I have a lot of travelling to do. Family is in upstate NY, friends are in PA and FL, father is in Texas...I haven't been to the states in 3 years, and before that it was 4 years, each time for <3 months.

I came back and wanted something I could enjoy driving for a month and then garage until I decided to sell it or give it to my kid brother.

As for getting my feet wet, you're correct for the most part...I had a 3000gt vr4, so I felt I could adapt to this motor, but to be honest, that was when I was a teenager 15 years ago, it seems I've forgotten everything. I understand basic mechanics, but this car has so much done to it, I'm scared to touch anything without reading a book on it first...my vr4 was always stock, with the exception of an underdrive pulley...this thing has methanol injection (that i can't find where to refill), additional fuel injection, lots of electronics that I can't find reference manuals to (due to RIPP erasing everything or pics being taken down) and even inside, gauges I have no idea what they mean...

I literally told the dealer "give me a car I can drive for a month w/o spending time at a shop cause I can't spend 2 weeks in a shop as I'm only here for 3"...and he sold me this. 3 days later I'm up all night on a forum trying to fix damage that (probably would've occurred eventually) but came from a mechanic forgetting to tighten a bolt... :(
 
Discussion starter · #15 ·
As for "why a car like this"...I love the 3g's...particularly the car culture that comes with them. The Mitsubishi clubs are actually active and helpful. I remember my 3si (the GT) and when I needed to change out a flywheel and clutch for the first time, a member invited me down to walk me through it.

I guess that, along with the engine being similar, made me feel that I wanted a car like this because there would be an active community. Further, the car is beautiful. I live in Japan, so there are a lot of tuners like this with decked out cars and modded engines and what not, so I guess...I just wanted one.

I figured since I'm only here for a month, I could get it, then park it and resell or pass it on, and then when I return again I would get something more suitable for my age...lesson learned.
 
#18 ·
At this point your best bet would be to put it back to as stock as possible and sell the SDS to some dope who doesn't know any better, preferably on craigslist.
 
Discussion starter · #19 ·
Bitter said:
At this point your best bet would be to put it back to as stock as possible and sell the SDS to some dope who doesn't know any better, preferably on craigslist.
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The thought occurred to me, but without a RIPP manual, I can't really reverse engineer and be sure I didn't miss something important.

Trying to figure out how to bypass the A/C at the moment, there's a member here who said he has ran w/o A/C for several years with the SDS setup and a 56-inch belt, but I can't figure out the belt routing he used.

From Clipse3GT " Yup have this done as well. But with the RIPP system. All you get rid of is the extra bracket, their BMW idler pulley, & A/C I run a 56" belt with that setup. "

I don't know what bracket he's referring to.
 
#20 ·
if your in NJ, Ripp mods is in Staten Island, NY.... Maybe you can physically go there and talk to someone, and tell them your situation.

Maybe you can have the car towed there, and work out a price so they can maybe fix it as they still make superchargers for other platforms.
 
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