73DBG

I’ve seen a good bit of post asking for blower belt recommendations, what’s best, what to stay away from and lots of guys throwing out good real world experiences. Figured I throw my 2 cents in on what I’ve seen and experienced recently as well.

Some swear by the Gates HD Green belt or the Gator Back belts, guys have reported zero issues and belts holding strong.

Also have seen guys say the Green HD belts are actually worse than a standard NAPA or Auto Zone black micro-V belt, especially at higher boost levels. Apparently the Green HD belts are too ridged and can snap or they don’t have enough grip and slip at high RPMS/Boost.

I ordered a Gates Racing RPM belt originally when I went with a size smaller pulley, wanted a size down in belt length. Unfortunately they ordered the wrong belt even though I Gabe them the specific part number from Gates. What arrived was the Green Gates HD belt so I kept it and had it put on, but I also had them order the correct Gates Racing RPM belt. This pays off later...

I figured with me running a small blower P1SC1 and only making 10-11psi with an 8 rib kit breaking the belt under boost or slipping the belt wouldn’t effect me most likely....Wrong! Now I’m not sure if I had the tensioner too tight or not, maybe so but this did happen last Saturday and lucky me I had the spare Gates RPM belt with me!




I now have the Gates Racing RPM belt on and a spare comes in tomorrow as well. I haven’t made any test pulls to see how the RPM belt does yet, waiting for the spare to be on hand and this was my first “down range belt swap” (Mexico area) so I’m probably gonna have my shop check out my hasty battlefield install before I let it rip again....just in case lol

Anyway just thought I’d share my experience doesn’t really prove anything either way, I’m sure some guys will recommend the Green belts and can report no issues with way more than 11 psi. Just figured I’d provide some real world feed back.....and once again...at least in my situation Mr. Unreal’s advice concerning blower belts was correct...So I can report he’s still batting 1000% on all advice/suggestions blower related I’ve asked about and he provided. 👍🏻🇺🇸

schpenxel

What kit are you running?

Unreal

It isn't really PSI that matters, it is how hard you are pushing the blower/pulley setup. Green belts can work fine if you are not pushing anything hard, they last a long time but they are slicker and don't grip as well. So when you get into setups that are pushing the setup, and need maximum traction on the belt, they do not work as well.


Think of Green belts as a nice all season tire that will last 60k miles and a Black belt as a high performance tire that may last 30k. If you just cruise back and forth, don't make much power, and don't need a sticky tire the all season will work great, but if you are pushing the limits of traction you want a better tire.

The RPM belts are the best of all. Strong and sticky.

playtoy

In my experience, it’s not the belts that are the problem in 99% of the situations. It’s how different people set them up. Proper tension and alignment is the key to making a belt last.

With a serpentine belt people think that you need to get it tight like a guitar string and they end up maxing out the tensioner which causes issues. ECS & A&A supply a good tensioner with their kits and should be set up as they recommend.

In the last 10 years that I have had a supercharged car running boost levels from 10 psi to 30 psi I have run the gator back, gates, Napa, even an autozone belt once. The only one I ever had any issues with was the autozone belt. They are just junk.

Detoxx03

I’ve always used a green belt and push my car and haven’t had one thus far give me an issue.

schpenxel

I've been running a cheapo advance auto one for years now, haven't touched it. I don't even know if it's still there other than my power steering still working

Alignment is def key to any setup. Every time I popped a belt in the beginning was attributed to alignment. The belt gets out of alignment and tries to go over the lip one of the pullies which pulls it super tight and snaps it. I can't see it being very easy to snap one through just normal use of spinning pullies. Seems like it would lose traction and start slipping before it'd snap the belt

Laser alignment tool on every pulley. My alternator and supercharger were both out of alignment in different directions. Fixed that and I literally haven't lost a belt since. (knock on wood)

But that's just my "in my head" engineering, maybe they really are sticky enough to snap from tension alone in some cases.

73DBG

Got it that’s a solid explanation and makes perfect sense, little blower or not....it’s getting pushed to its limits.

73DBG

Procharger 8 rib kit, standard version P1SC1 blower, gonna look into the laser alignment, I know it’s not laser aligned now since me and a buddy put the new belt on in a gas station parking lot with minimal tools and lighting, maybe alignment is off a little maybe not, I am pushing this little blower to it’s max capacity so Unreal I think has it spot on...or it’s a combo of both alignment and maxing out the blowers capabilities. Either way RPM belt is on, spare arrives tomorrow and no test hit will be made until the alignment and tension rechecked, thanks again guys for additional insight and explanations! Always like learning more and sharing experiences with the forum!! 🇺🇸

If you have a chance and could briefly explain the laser alignment that’d be awesome as well! Is this something I can do on my own? Just need a laser alignment tool? Recommendations on which tool to get? I like learning and doing as much of my own work as possible until I bring on the pros

73DBG

Yeah man I know you definitely told me that, part of the reason when they ordered the wrong belt and Green one came instead I just said whatever I’ll run it since it worked for you, unfortunately I didn’t have the same experience maybe it was alignment but I’m leaning towards me asking max effort from you he baby blower was the cause, it held up for 2 runs against a FBO CBR1000RR, a run vs a CTSV, and two more runs vs another CTSV. She snapped on a dragy 60-130mph run at the end of the night 3rd to 4th shift at 7k happened at the perfect time though I was able to kill the car just after it happened and coast into the meet spot parking lot

Unreal

The difference though is minimal. Like on a 100 point scale a green belt maybe 95/100, black 97/100 and RPM 100/100. It isn't like a night and day thing. The green glaze and are not as sticky, but last a long time. For some people like Detoxx, not an issue. For others that are having slip issues/etc, the little bit extra the RPM gives solves an issue.

73DBG

Got it! Interesting enough the oreilys near me the RPM belt is almost $10 cheaper than the Green HD belt

any insight or advice on the laser pulley alignment? Cause I watched a video from Gates on laser pulley alignment and it appears you’d need to pull the damn engine to do this correctly on a C6 ZO6 with a blower kit, they used their brand alignment tool and it’s like $80, I didn’t some some other crazy **** that was being sold form $1k-$4k and obviously not happening and no need for that. Is there a more simple way of just using a standard laser levying tool and not pulling the damn engine cause that ain’t happening either lol

theandrewo

Get the Dayco laser alignment tool. I did and it works great. You don't have to calibrate it like the lame Gates brand tool.

Also, what tensioner/bracket are you running? On my P1, I was running the Procharger tensioner/bracket setup. I replaced the HB, laser aligned all pullies, tension was good, and the belt was the correct size. Yet I'd still shred a belt above 4500 RPM 100% of the time. Replaced almost all the components on the tensioner, phone call after phone call to Procharger. Never had a success. Finally I just dumped the lousy PC tensioner/bracket setup and got A&A's bracket for my P1. Haven't had one single belt problem since. (6-rib, 5lbs boost, stock LS3)

73DBG

Same procharger bracket that comes with the P1 kit, I just have an IW 10% over balancer and 8 rib kit. This is the first belt I’ve broke in the little over a year I’ve had the car, but it’s also making the most power now that I’ve got enough fuel to feed it, was running E55 the night it broke but like I said it made several runs prior we’ve got a 7k rpm limiter set, shops dyno is down so the tune is pretty basic we didn’t change anything but amount of fuel and adjusted the meth down a good bit, made a good 5 or 6 pulls to around 7k the last pull is what shredded the belt.

This alignment tool it is available at a parts store or needs to be ordered? I’m gonna look into now

realcanuk

Same green belt been on my blower for 4 years and never had an issue. I also believe it's more about proper alignment and tension.

theandrewo

I bought it online. It's a whole belt alignment kit - pretty nifty.
If you look at your belt, you can see one rib is ripping off separate from the other ribs on the belt. Probably a sign where a pulley was misaligned and the belt hopped up on the edge of a pulley and ka-pow.
The issue with my PC tensioner was that (to our best understanding without strapping a GoPro on it) under high RPM torque and in boost, the tensioner started to torque slightly sideways due to the force. Maybe 1/8" or less. Then the belt would be just slightly misaligned at 5500 RPM, it'd hop over a rib and shred. Hopefully you just had an old belt.

73DBG

Could be a combo of both, I do think it was tensioned to tight I’ve got it lined up on the hash makes now and it was a little over before I’ve got pictures that showed me that. Alignment I still gotta look into but correct me if I’m out of bounds here, if alignment was the issue or at least a bigger percentage of the issue if I had all three problems leading to the shredded belt, too tight, alignment and spinning it at peak wouldn’t the alignment have told on itself first hard WOT pull? 2nd? 3rd or 4th? Being it took till run 7 or so I’m leaning toward too tight and 65,000rpm impeller speed, since I went back and looked at pictures of where the hash marks were and where they are now at least.

HouseS2k

From the picture you had online, your tension was correct with the notch lined up with the bottom one.

Unreal

The difference is minor and just about any belt will work with a proper setup not being pushed to its limits. The green belts just have a slightly lower limit than the RPM or basic black. If you are getting 1-2psi of slip on a max effort setup, the RPM maybe enough difference to fix that. No belt fixes alignment or tension issues.

To me the RPM belt was $60, green is like $45, for what people have into these cars to make 900+ I rather just run the best when the difference is that small.

73DBG

Oh I feel you man, crazy the RPM is actually cheaper around me... bonus I guess, I think it was over tensioned for sure House2k the hash marks left a few mm if you using the pictures as a reference when the green belt shredded so hopefully it’s good to go now, appreciate the input and insight as always gentlemen🤙🏻🇺🇸

73DBG

Well gentlemen it would appear there was also an alignment or underlying pulley issue(idler to be specific) took the car out the other nigh to see how it felt and how my belt change was doing.....did fine for about 30 min of just cruising and a few mild quick hits to 3500 or so. So I tried to see how it would handle around 5k and bam felt the belt either break or slip off at a minimum killed the car instantly now that I’m very familiar with what a belt break does and feels like. Coated to a decent spot of the road opened the hood and it seemed that belt just slipped of cause it was still on but lose. Grabbed flashlight to check **** out and I see a pulley that’s 100% not in its proper home. Had it towed home further inspection below 👇🏻



So not sure if it was a combo of all three potential causes for shredding a belt...but this dude is definitely no good. Pulleys are getting a laser alignment for sure when my new idler pulley comes in and goes back on. Hopefully it’s not too hard to get the other piece of that bolt out.