my motor eats belts......help
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 393
Likes: 3
From: Dallas, TX
my motor eats belts......help
I have a 70 LT-1 thats been rebuilt, the problem is every couple hundred miles it chews up a water pump/alt/crank belt, it had a non-gm water pump on it before i bought it and after the rebuild i saw no reason to replace, it works fine as far as i know, i have all new pulleys on the engine except for the alternator, my father thinks the alt. pulley maybe shot or that the water pump is a pile of crap and poorly built, his solution being replace both and see what happens, i however would like to know what you guys think. any help is much appericiated.
-alex
-alex
Racer
Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 304
Likes: 0
From: Pasadena Maryland
In all my years I've never had a pulley go bad. Are all the pulleys in alignment? You say the wate pump is a non GM. Are you aware that Vettes have their own water pump configuration? Too much tension because of misalignment in any direction will wear a belt down pretty fast. Its also a good way to throw one going down the road. Maybe someone else will chime in with other thoughts.
Drifting
Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 1,950
Likes: 498
From: Chino Hills CA
I just read in car craft magazine bout the same problem. High performance small block Chevy's had a knack for throwing belts. Seem's the GM factory fix was deep V groove pulleys, which are available. There's more info in the magazine under the section "What's your Problem".
Race Director
Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 16,100
Likes: 17
Before belts go,are you getting squeal ? Something else to check is the clutch fan...with engine off,check for play by trying to move fan blades fore/aft..if you get movement/wobble,the your clutch fan is toast...
Rich
Rich
Cruising
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 11
Likes: 0
From: Mineville Nova Scotia
I have been a tech for a long time and there are diffrent reasons for belts to wear out
1 misaligment of pulleys
2 over tensioning of the belt
3 rusted or pitted pulleys (in the grove)
4 deterition of the belt ( just old and tired) (poor quality)
Hope this helps
1 misaligment of pulleys
2 over tensioning of the belt
3 rusted or pitted pulleys (in the grove)
4 deterition of the belt ( just old and tired) (poor quality)
Hope this helps
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Drifting
Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 1,795
Likes: 1
definitely check alignment of the pulleys.
by the way at what RPM is it throwing the belt?
i read somewhere that the higher revving engines
should have deep groove or serpentine pulleys installed.
it had something to do with the accessory brackets
actually flexing especially the alternator bracket.
by the way at what RPM is it throwing the belt?
i read somewhere that the higher revving engines
should have deep groove or serpentine pulleys installed.
it had something to do with the accessory brackets
actually flexing especially the alternator bracket.
Drifting
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 1,496
Likes: 1
From: Lafayette Louisiana
If a vbelt rides on the bottom of the pulley it will be eaten quickly. The belt must grip the sides of the pulleys not the bottom. I had a farm tractor with this problem, changed the pulleys and cured it.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 3,443
Likes: 2
From: McDonough Georgia
Originally Posted by mensch53
check to make sure all the pulleys are lined up correctly.
also make sure none of your pulleys are bent,look at them from the side with the engine running and see if any of them have a wobble.
4th Gear
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 4
Likes: 0
Belt Pulley Problem
I had a pulley problem on a duel pulley set up where the duel pulley on the crank where the same dia., but the water pump dual pulley were different dia. ( which they are not supposed to be ).. Came out of the factory that way. Eat belt's every 200 miles.. Dealer switched water pump dual pulley to new same dia. one and problem was gone..