Corvette Charlie

1) alignment looks ok using a strait edge across pulley
2) brand new napa belts (with groves)
3) only 2 belts alt/ pwr steering
4) tried tightning tension but dont want to over do it and kill a bearing
5) tried napa belt dressing.

This is a 73 with a new 383

What is the stickiest/best belt?
Do pulleys wear out?
any ideas?

kdf1986

Hello,

Just a thought here. Try loosening them a little and see what happens. When I replaced the alternator and power steering belts on my 73 I had a similar occurence with noise when I gassed it.

After using belt dressing, replaceing the belts and continually tightening them it did not get rid of the problem.

What did get rid of the problem was putting on my air conditioning belt. That goes to the other side of the engine. So I am thinking that the noise I was hearing may have been something other than the belts, or due to the belts loading up on one side. When the other belt to the other side of the pulley was put on, I have never heard another noise.

That is why I said to loosen them first. Maybe there is some tension there somewhere.

Just my thought from an actual event.

kdf

rihwoods

Also,if.....you have a clutch fan,check the clutch very carefully.When this happened to me,(re-adjusting,etc)I lost all the belts because there was just a slight wobble in the clutch which by the way,will take out your water pump shaft seal....one affects the other..with engine off,rotate your fan by hand,and if you feel un-even resistance,there is a problem with the clutch...I learned the hard way...

joe73vette

They sure do, and they get rusty and pitted.
They only make noise at WOT? Is it at a certain rpm? If you turn the wheel full right or left does the ps belt squeal? Joe

Brettmc

Pulleys do wear over time. The grooves get smooth and slick from the belt running over them for all those miles. What works for me is to take a file or sandpaper and roughen up the groove where the belt rides. Not too much, just enough for the belt to get some gription on the pulley.

Brett

ruby76

Mine did same but quit when I tightened the alternator belt. So you've said you've tried it, but didn't want to over tighten. Give a good tight belt, and give it a try. You can always loosen it again if that didn't do the trick.

isosceles

I've had REALLY great success with Dayco Top Cog belts. No more squeals, slipping, throwing, or flipping.

MEGALADON

I had all those problems , this was my fix

thebruce

I had the same problem at high RPMs. Turned out my fan clutch was bad, and when the belt tried to turn the fan faster than the fan wanted to turn, the belt was slipping on the pulley. A new fan clutch solved the problem.

corvetteatv7

How much did that cost? Nice fix though!

A C

I have tried a lot of different belt manufacturers and I think Gates is the best. I have 2 matched belts, and the Gates brand was the only one where the 2 belts were actually the same length. All of the others had one belt tight and one loose on my car. After about 4 sets in 2 weeks, it was obvious the Gates brand was better than the others I tried.

There have been a lot of good posts in this thread so far. Pulleys will wear, especially when someone puts the wrong width belt on. Look for grooves in the pulley. You are right to not crank on the belt tension...belts are cheaper than bearings.

TexasMadMan

Covetteatv7:

This may be a dumb question, but is that a wasp nest next to the crank pulley?

corvetteatv7

Its megaladon's car, but it does looks like a hornets nest down there doesn't it?