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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!!!
 
#4 ·
gmc1990rodder said:
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!!!
You'll hate this but they needed to be adjusted tighter or where you can you need to double the belts. Certainly belt squeal is something the serpentine gets around as the power extraction has reached a point where V-belts just can't get there with out running multiple belts per pulley. Not that I'm selling serpentine belts just trying to solve problems.

Belt dressing is the kiss of death to belts once used you have to keep using it. They swell the belt which doesn't stay, they shrink back and squeal again but now the belt is also ever so slightly stretched. The squealing belt, also, polishes and glazes the pulley so you need to sand their surfaces to break. the glaze so the belt can get some bite on the pulley.

If you shop in the hot rod catalogs you'll find multiple belt pulleys, by changing to multiples over the water pump and alternator most of this problem will go away plus they add some redundancy so if one belt fails, you not stuck in the middle of no-where.

Bogie
 
#13 ·
belt squeal

Bbowerman is right,running the 2 belt like you have them,the alt. is fighting with the power steering belt. Power steering pump takes 7hp to run,alt 2 hp.. Make sure your v-belts sit in the pulleys right. You can't just throw any v-belt on it just because it calls for a v-belt. Too narrow a belt and sinks into pulley and slips, Too wide a belt and doesn't work right either. :)
 
#16 ·
gmc1990rodder said:
Thanks for all the info guys..guessing this is why the sqeal is going away after i remove the alt belt!!
To come back to this, my personal daily driver is my 89, S15 GMC with a very modified 350. I back dated the engine to V-belts to unclutter the view in the engine room. The belts only run the coolant pump and alternator, yet the alternator belt was always a squealer in the winter with the lights on , the defroster running full blast, let alone bring the stereo with amp up. The crank is running a two sheave pulley as is the coolant pump, but the alternator ran only a single belt pulley with a long belt off the crank and coolant pump. It aways squealed under load when the engine was cold. I doubled the pulley on the alternator and the squeal problem went away.

Bogie
 
#17 ·
Yea thanks Cole, the alt. is straight and true. When i got this truck the alt was on some aftermarket type bracket system and was off about 3/8-1/2 inch so i found an o.e.m. bracket an installed it to get the alt back on track!

Bogie, Thanks again.. And I'm going to try to find the double alt. pulley get it installed and add a belt to it also.. and I would sure like to see your truck photos sounds cool.. This is an '88 chevy 1500 with a stock '72 400ci only mods to the engine is bowtie highrise and eldr 600 carb! Lowered 4'' in the front and 6'' in the back and this is my daily driver.. On the other hand I have a '90 gmc 1500 modified 5.7L,swapped to carb,comp thumpr cam,hooker headers,full posi rear w/4.10 gears and it has the serpentine belt system..and like you I kinda like the less cluttered look of the v-belt better.. anyways thanks alot for all of ya'lls help!!!

Joey
 
#21 ·
i could be wrong but my buddy done the same thing and kept eating belts but look at the pulley on the water pupmp and if both belts go to the crank they are trying 2 run 2 different speeds because the water pump pulley grooves are 2 different sizes so take the alt belt off the crank and just run it to the water pump and alt.
 
#23 ·
Right now i have the noise down to a small sqeal. Ive added a second belt to everything that a can. (except the alt.) And also tightened the p*ss out of them! LOL but there is still a lil noise that is about to drive me crazy! I can't find any type of diagram on the web of the actual route the belts are supposed to be? Guess it's up to whoever installs them! Thanks again for the help guys
 
#24 ·
pontiacjosh said:
i could be wrong but my buddy done the same thing and kept eating belts but look at the pulley on the water pupmp and if both belts go to the crank they are trying 2 run 2 different speeds because the water pump pulley grooves are 2 different sizes so take the alt belt off the crank and just run it to the water pump and alt.
Exactly. They make different size water pump pulleys and crank pulleys. If both the water pump pulley and crank pulley are not the same size that run the PS pump and the alternator it throws them out of wack. One is spinning in one direction and the other is spinning in the opposite direction. If one of the pulleys is smaller it will try to run the pulley at a different speed and you will have belt squeel and a balance problem.
 
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