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Sbc V-belt Help Needed

82K views 92 replies 13 participants last post by  ralphvlad 
#1 ·
I need help with my v-belts on sbc400ci. I know most of you will say convert to a serpentine system, but this is in an '89 chevy p/u and i kinda like the engine to have the old school look. Ok here's the problem, i have two v-belts on this engine. One is attached to the power steering/waterpump/crank..the other is attached from alt/waterpump/and crank. I have a horrible sqeal! I've taken the alt belt off and the sqeal stopped si thought maybe the alt bearings were bad.. replaced alt...Still sqealing! Took the power steering belt off stopped squealing..changed p/s pump and sqeal returned and i can't seem to pin point where it's comimg from.. THis is also my second set of belts with the same sqeal please help.. Thanks in advance!!!
 
#78 ·
Ah Jeez. :drunk:

The simple fix would to be to go to the wreckers, find an appropriately equipped vehicle ( SBC with v-belt drive. With PS. With double groove alternator, etc, etc, etc.) and then buy the whole kit and kaboodle. That way you'd have matching brackets, pullies, belts ... everything.
Remove, discard your present rat's breakfast, and replace. :thumbup:

That would also make the job of ordering replacement belts a piece of cake. "I need both alternator belts for a 1979 GMC C2500 with a 350 without AC." (for example)
versus
"I have this 350 that has a 3-groove pulley on the crank, and uses that waterpump puley with the 2 different diameters, yada-yada-yada."

In other words ... the "kiss" rule.
"Keep It Simple Stupid" :D
 
#80 ·
66GMC said:
Ah Jeez. :drunk:

The simple fix would to be to go to the wreckers, find an appropriately equipped vehicle ( SBC with v-belt drive. With PS. With double groove alternator, etc, etc, etc.) and then buy the whole kit and kaboodle. That way you'd have matching brackets, pullies, belts ... everything.
Remove, discard your present rat's breakfast, and replace. :thumbup:

That would also make the job of ordering replacement belts a piece of cake. "I need both alternator belts for a 1979 GMC C2500 with a 350 without AC." (for example)
versus
"I have this 350 that has a 3-groove pulley on the crank, and uses that waterpump puley with the 2 different diameters, yada-yada-yada."

In other words ... the "kiss" rule.
"Keep It Simple Stupid" :D
DITTO ON THAT! I even said this in one of my earlier post.
 
#82 ·
I sure am glad that V-belts are a thing of the past. The serpentine belts are much better. I'm fifty four years old and I have been turning wrenches all of my life. I'm not the best but I'm good at what I do. I don't advise this to everyone but at the young age of seventeen I quit school and took a full time job as a line mechanic at a local Chevrolet dealership. At that time I was the youngest mechanic in Jacksonville, that worked on commission.

I remember when some of the big luxury cars had as many as seven belts on the front of them. If one of the inside belts broke it was a half a day job replacing it because all of the other belts had to come off. Like I said in an earlier post, "V-belts are not to be taken lightly".

I was about nineteen when I used the wrong pulley on a chevy water pump and it caused the pump shaft to snap and the fan went into the radiator. I had to buy a new pump, pulleys, fan and fan clutch and new radiator. It turned out I had a small shaft pump and a big shaft pulley. Even though the bolts lined up it wasn't enough to keep the pulley centered. It threw everything off just enough to put it out of balance - causing the water pump to snap.

I also know of a young fellow that died because a fan blade came off and stuck him in the chest and into his heart and I also work with a fellow that has a real bad scar on the side of his face where a fan blade came off and cut through his cheek and into his mouth. Pulley arangement and mix matching pulleys is nothing to take lightly. We share a common love, we are all Hotrodders and because of this I love each and everyone of you that are on this post. I would hate it if anyone was to get injured or killed, it is so easy in this trade and I have seen enough of that in my life. Listen to the old man and if you get your feelings hurt then so be it but at least the next time you pick a couple of old pulleys that have been lying around the shop and throw them on the front of an engine you'll give it a little more thought. :spank:
 
#83 ·
Chris bad thing I also knew a guy that the fan blade went through his chest and killed him...We don't live that far apart hope it isn't the same guy :( And I'm going to use different pulleys on my engine as well...One thing i know for a fact though is that this isn't a "mutt motor" lol the way it is now is the way it came from factory..sooooo maybe they screwed up somewhere who knows.. I found this engine in a motor home in some 75yr old mans barn it had 11,851 original miles on her and was spotless! I almost fell out when I ask the guy if he wanted to sell the engine..his response was hell son I haven't driven that thing since '77 (which in fact was the year i was born lol) if ya need an engine and you pull her out, you can have it!!! So in trade all he wanted me to do was to get it outta his barn for good!! But long story short you don't find a 400ci sbc 4 bolt main in its original condition often much less FOR FREE!! Thanks for all the post on info from you all! I for sure learned alot from all you guys! And hey if the v-belts don't work out,I gotta a serpintine set up to go right on her!! Thanks again!!
 
#88 ·
Sometime around there is when they changed the power steering hose ends. Earlier cars used flared ends for the power steering box and pump. Some of the power steering pumps had flared ends and some had O ring end hose lines. In the 80s you will see mostly O ring ends. When those trucks came out with the serpentine belt system the power steering hose ends were O ring. The quick boxes from the F body cars used O ring ends also.
 
#89 ·
V8&4spd said:
Sometime around there is when they changed the power steering hose ends. Earlier cars used flared ends for the power steering box and pump. Some of the power steering pumps had flared ends and some had O ring end hose lines. In the 80s you will see mostly O ring ends. When those trucks came out with the serpentine belt system the power steering hose ends were O ring. The quick boxes from the F body cars used O ring ends also.
Yep, I believe the change from SAE 45° flare to Metric O-ring fittings occured in 1981.

I figured that out when ordering hoses for my proposed Hydroboost Brake conversion. Why hydroboost, you ask? Because my 454 idles like a can of rocks, and won't have adequate vacuum to run a vacuum brake booster. :mwink:
 
#90 ·
66GMC said:
Yep, I believe the change from SAE 45° flare to Metric O-ring fittings occured in 1981.

I figured that out when ordering hoses for my proposed Hydroboost Brake conversion. Why hydroboost, you ask? Because my 454 idles like a can of rocks, and won't have adequate vacuum to run a vacuum brake booster. :mwink:

I like Hydroboost - good stuff!
 
#91 ·
gmc1990rodder said:
Chris bad thing I also knew a guy that the fan blade went through his chest and killed him...We don't live that far apart hope it isn't the same guy :( And I'm going to use different pulleys on my engine as well...One thing i know for a fact though is that this isn't a "mutt motor" lol the way it is now is the way it came from factory..sooooo maybe they screwed up somewhere who knows.. I found this engine in a motor home in some 75yr old mans barn it had 11,851 original miles on her and was spotless! I almost fell out when I ask the guy if he wanted to sell the engine..his response was hell son I haven't driven that thing since '77 (which in fact was the year i was born lol) if ya need an engine and you pull her out, you can have it!!! So in trade all he wanted me to do was to get it outta his barn for good!! But long story short you don't find a 400ci sbc 4 bolt main in its original condition often much less FOR FREE!! Thanks for all the post on info from you all! I for sure learned alot from all you guys! And hey if the v-belts don't work out,I gotta a serpintine set up to go right on her!! Thanks again!!
I see you live in Macclenny, it was probably the same guy. He lived in Saint George, Ga. I knew who he was and I had seen him around a time or two. He was a young motorhead. His parents had gone to to work and later in the day he was out back working on his truck. The blade stuck him in the chest and he laid there accross the engine for about five hours before anyone discovered him. Very tragic.
 
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