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Since we were discussing belts on here the other day, what have you all found to be the best gripping belt? I'm still struggling with belt slip, and after a short run last night, my new gatorback is almost toast. It was slipping so bad that I was losing anywhere from 4-8psi during a WOT blast!! It felt like I was dragging an anchor. Part of the problem is that I haven't taken Unreal's advice and put the spring loaded tensioner back on as yet, and I was afraid of really cranking the pressure down on the manual tensioner. I will fix that soon. I believe I've read that Bando belts are stickier? Of course it doesn't help that it's a 98" 6-rib. The challenge as I see it, is finding a belt with soft enough rubber that grips, but with a strong enough core that it doesn't stretch, because at that length of a belt it doesn't take much stretch to interpolate into a belt that's an inch or more longer under load.
What I really need is a secondary drive, step-up pulley with a short belt and a spring-loaded tensioner that drives the blower alone.
I've been using just a cheapo Bando one. I don't remember any specific before/after numbers but the gatorback had dust everywhere so I assumed it was slipping some
I still think the ECS tensioner setup would work with the heartbeat which I think would help. Maybe. (the one for their centri kit that is)
I'd probably go back to a sprung tensioner and softer belt first and see how that does. Maybe even a slight bit smaller if you can manage to get it on.. I've taken the top alternator bolt out (and loosened the bottom one) before to get an extra bit of slack when installing a new belt. That might help you get a slightly shorter one on.. or maybe you'll just end up cussing a lot
Since we were discussing belts on here the other day, what have you all found to be the best gripping belt? I'm still struggling with belt slip, and after a short run last night, my new gatorback is almost toast. It was slipping so bad that I was losing anywhere from 4-8psi during a WOT blast!! It felt like I was dragging an anchor. Part of the problem is that I haven't taken Unreal's advice and put the spring loaded tensioner back on as yet, and I was afraid of really cranking the pressure down on the manual tensioner. I will fix that soon. I believe I've read that Bando belts are stickier? Of course it doesn't help that it's a 98" 6-rib. The challenge as I see it, is finding a belt with soft enough rubber that grips, but with a strong enough core that it doesn't stretch, because at that length of a belt it doesn't take much stretch to interpolate into a belt that's an inch or more longer under load.
What I really need is a secondary drive, step-up pulley with a short belt and a spring-loaded tensioner that drives the blower alone.
Either the tensioner is hurting you, or the magnuson system is not efficient. I have never had one but I can tell you that my eforce was also a long 6 rib belt over 100 inches and even with the smallest pulley I never had any noticeable slip. I used a gates, and a gatorback, both with no issues.
Since we were discussing belts on here the other day....
Not sure how your drive is setup but the problem might be caused by not enough wrap on the blower pulley because the spring loaded idler isn't used. IMO it's much more important to get the maximum wrap around the pulley rather than tension. Less stress on bearings, belts, etc..
Thanks guys. The problem is the lack of tension. I checked it again this morning and the belt is pretty easy to move back and forth. The Heartbeat doesn't take much effort to turn at all, BTW. (They claim it takes 1/3 HP at 60 MPH) I've made 12 psi before with a regular Gates green stripe belt, but since the Magnuson HBeat setup uses the feeble stock spring tensioner, it starts to slip after a while. The problem isn't with belt wrap around the blower pulley, its just that the belt doesn't have enough load on it. The E-Force system is better IMV because it has an additional idler and they offer an upgraded HD tensioner, which I don't think I can get all the pieces for with buying an E-Force.
Most of the HB guys will tell you that you need to use a belt that you almost cannot get onto the pulleys, in order to load the spring tensioner enough to keep the belt from slipping. The 98" belt with the 3.2" Griptech pulley is just a tad too long, so the spring tensioner isn't loading it properly, I think.
I'll keep at it until I figure something out. Cant find anyone that carries Bando belts here though. Thanks again.
Sammy, I don't have any experience with these tensioners, and I don't wrench much anymore...and I know this has been examined by you for quite a bit.
So, here comes my stupid question; can the tensioner be refitted with a stronger spring?
I said it was stupid...
Originally Posted by CI GS
Thanks guys. The problem is the lack of tension. I checked it again this morning and the belt is pretty easy to move back and forth. The Heartbeat doesn't take much effort to turn at all, BTW. (They claim it takes 1/3 HP at 60 MPH) I've made 12 psi before with a regular Gates green stripe belt, but since the Magnuson HBeat setup uses the feeble stock spring tensioner, it starts to slip after a while. The problem isn't with belt wrap around the blower pulley, its just that the belt doesn't have enough load on it. The E-Force system is better IMV because it has an additional idler and they offer an upgraded HD tensioner, which I don't think I can get all the pieces for with buying an E-Force.
Most of the HB guys will tell you that you need to use a belt that you almost cannot get onto the pulleys, in order to load the spring tensioner enough to keep the belt from slipping. The 98" belt with the 3.2" Griptech pulley is just a tad too long, so the spring tensioner isn't loading it properly, I think.
I'll keep at it until I figure something out. Cant find anyone that carries Bando belts here though. Thanks again.
always takes awhile imo of trial and error to get the belts and tension perfect on these cars for each individual setup. I'm sure you'll get there. 8 rib belt but I made 760whp on the old OLD school A&A procharger bracket which had the weakest tensioner ever on it.
Sammy, I don't have any experience with these tensioners, and I don't wrench much anymore...and I know this has been examined by you for quite a bit.
So, here comes my stupid question; can the tensioner be refitted with a stronger spring?
I said it was stupid...
Hey Mitch. No, the stock tensioner is a cheap self contained thing, with the spring made into it.
always takes awhile imo of trial and error to get the belts and tension perfect on these cars for each individual setup. I'm sure you'll get there. 8 rib belt but I made 760whp on the old OLD school A&A procharger bracket which had the weakest tensioner ever on it.
Yep, at this stage, I'm thinking it's both the gatorback belt and the manual tensioner that's contributing to the slip.
I just came back from testing it again, after cranking a bit more pressure on it and on the log it shows that it made just over 10psi at ~4400rpm but the higher it spun the less boost it made, and boost was fluctuating all over the place.
There's also a shitload of dust all over the front of the engine again too. The picture below shows just how much less surface area the gatorback has over a regular belt. I'll check tomorrow to see if I can get a regular Gates or Napa 98" belt and try that with the stock tensioner. I used to make
Nah I think the HB will be pretty fun once you get this belt thing figured out
It's plenty of fun already. I'm running out of **** to tinker with now though. The next thing will be the ECS Stage 1 fuel system. I noticed that it starts to lean out a bit on the top end, so I'm wondering if it's running out of fuel..?
Might be. Might try bumping the maf table up a little wherever that is and see if it helps (shoot me a log and current tune if you want me to check it out)
Got my push rod length checker thing in today so I guess that's tomorrow's project
Thanks man. Will do. I need to get the boost stabilized first so I can get a proper WOT log. I'll do that tomorrow if the rain holds up. Changed the belt this evening and was going to take the car for a test spin, but when I opened that garage door I saw it had rained, so that killed that.
Glad to see that you've got yourself something to tinker with too!
I got one of those "adjustable pushrods" lying around somewhere and stupidly forgot to look for it the other day when I was messing around with mine. What kind of preload are you shooting for? I would suggest just over one turn from zero preload to 22 ft lbs. which should be around 0.050" or so, I think.
Thanks man. Will do. I need to get the boost stabilized first so I can get a proper WOT log. I'll do that tomorrow if the rain holds up. Changed the belt this evening and was going to take the car for a test spin, but when I opened that garage door I saw it had rained, so that killed that.
Glad to see that you've got yourself something to tinker with too!
I got one of those "adjustable pushrods" lying around somewhere and stupidly forgot to look for it the other day when I was messing around with mine. What kind of preload are you shooting for? I would suggest just over one turn from zero preload to 22 ft lbs. which should be around 0.050" or so, I think.
I'm not really sure to be honest.. I was going to try to figure out where zero lash would be then do some reading on how much to add on to that and see where it ends up compared to the stock length that's in there now
Probably something like what you mentioned though..
You put it in, make some turns, jiggle some stuff, repeat a few times, then say **** it, probably good enough and throw it together. That is the CF way of doing it.
You put it in, make some turns, jiggle some stuff, repeat a few times, then say **** it, probably good enough and throw it together. That is the CF way of doing it.
02-16-2017, 08:21 AM
