Belt guidance

Actually, I wasn't arguing at all, I was simply questioning whether one has to go exactly-as-stock every time, when from my experience that is rarely true. I'm not ignoring the (solid) advice, in fact I thanked you all for it more than once. I may even order that water pump pulley and go that way. But I'm also not seeing how a difference of 7/8" on one pulley's circumference could be as disastrous as you're implying. I've made many such changes over the years with no harm whatsoever.