Hey, everyone! I need a small part of your wisdom this morning! I replaced my serpentine belt tension arm with an ACDelco one (I think there was some other brand on there) which was a slightly different size. This made the already small gap between the serpentine belt and the water pump pulley even smaller, where I can only slip my pinky finger through it. Here's a pic of that gap. Is this OK to run? The belt I am using is a GM#88986814, a 97" length. Should I drop to a 96" belt? I've searched and cannot find any guidance on gapping / clearance for this sorta thing.

 

The marks on the tensioner is in range. I wouldn't worry about it.

 

Cool. Do you think the belt running across the top of the water pump pulley is too close? I guess I'm worried that there may be some play or "wobble" in the belt that might close the 1/2 inch gap and rub on itself, if at all possible. I've never seen it do that at idle, but who knows what's happening at WOT.. I can pick up a new 6-rib belt from the auto parts store for 30-40$ maybe (an inch shorter than this one).

 

Are you using a different belt route than orignal 92? There are a couple ways it can be routed. Like are you using the air pump delete routing?
Stock was 94.5 inches as my recollection and rockauto shows.
Either way, the gap wouldn't bother me, due to the tensioner shows it within it's normal range, ie it's meant to be there.

 

Yes, the route is different. I purchased a smog delete kit after getting the car, but the bolts didn't fit the delete pulley, so I just placed the belt on there without it, since there was no obstruction, and the belt with the kit fit just fine. It did have about an inch gap where I pointed out in the picture below. Fast forward to now, I had to replace the whole tension arm and now the gap is what you see there. I could break out that smog delete pulley kit and try again and see if perhaps user error was at play a year ago, but I doubt it. Routing around the smog delete pulley will def pull the belt a little tighter and away from that water pump pulley.

 

Then I'm guessing you're using this as a guide https://www.thirdgen.org/serpentine/
96.8 inch belt is what they recommend, 97 isn't far off. Belt stretch could eventually make it too far but let's face it, that's possible on a stock belt and stock routing.
Depends on how much it nags you in the back of your subconscious as to if you should spend the $30 on a different belt.

 

That's exactly it, Aliceempire. I see the gap in those pics is no larger than mine. I most likely will get an inch smaller belt, but I'm not going to call it an emergency. Thanks for your help!