Well heres the problem, i have a home built custom setup on my car spinning 2 alternators and nothing else, the car makes too much power to run v-belts (the last a whooping 5 mins before they snap or fling) so i converted to a 6 groove serp belt setup, using junk yard pullies, now problem is that my car has manual steering, no ac, electric water pump, electric fan and manual brakes, nothing runs off engine except alternators and vertex magneto so belt is very short (Dayco 5060485) and needs to be shorter. this belt is the equvelent of a 485-6 or a 6485 or whatever, and Dayco dosent make a 475 in 6 groove, which is what i need. If anyone knows where to get this belt or who can make me one it would be appriciated. I really don't want to have to make a tensioner setup.

hey man I work at Advance Auto Parts, your best bet is to take a string through the entire belt routing and close loop it then take it up there and tell them you need a belt that big and we can match it up perfect because of the measuring devices. works great!

Hmmm.. sounds like a tough one.

Why do you have two alternators?
Well since you have two maybe you could run the oversize alternator pullies and make up the difference. With two you won't have to worry about discharge much!

Do you have any pics?

Why two alternators and what amperage?

i have 2 alternators because i have a 4500 watt sterio, electric water pump, electric fan, one alternator for sterio is 140 amps the other is for the car and is 120 amps, running 2 red top optimas and seperate circuits ie the sterio cant stop the car from running even if it kills its own battery. with that much wattage its necisary (sides the 75 lbs of subs, 35 lbs of amp, box, and cap and two 35 lb batteries and one 10lb nitrous bottle (24lbs full) all over the rear axle shure makes for good traction, and now that you ask, ill post pics asap (as in tomarrow)

ohh for got to put, i did the string thing and they couldn't find one that was wide enough and small enough (has to be for 6 groove pulley but pretty short) in Dayco brand the part number is 5060485 for the one ive got and that is too long, i need like a 5060475 or 5060480 but either they don't exsist or noone round my parts has one (west covina, la puente, walnut California, near LA) if anyone can find one id appriciate it, the reason why i posted was to get an idea if anyone even makes a belt in the proper size?

Even if you should finally get hold of a belt if I were you I would not rely on hard to find parts if there is another possibility, you might again have difficulty finding a replacement later. Don't you have a stock type v-belt tensioner anymore or can't this make up for that length difference?

I've read about cb guys out there who run up to 7 alternators to power their 1000+ watt amps... Some kind of overkill if you can do with 2!

Martin

With all the fabrication you have already done to even get the 6 rib pulleys mounted and lined up, you should have no problem getting a "standard find everywhere" belt to mount up with an idler pulley.

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Do you mean 10,000+? Because you can run 1000watt off of one large alternator.

ive got pics but they are over 600kb so it won't let me upload, if u guys got a way around this, let me know. btw i am running a tensioner setup using a turnbuckle on one of the alternators but i don't have enough adjustment to compensate for the extra length in the belt, the alternator is up aganst the frame as is and the belt still squeals under high electrical load (as in the system is on) and im only running one 3800 watt peak amplifyer (draws 115 amps at max output), one 500 watt peak amplifyer (draws 23.5 amps at max output) and one 225 watt peak head unit (draws less than 20 i think) the 2 amps and the nitrous kit are on a 140 amp alternator and the head unit, lights, electric water pump, electric fan and ignition are on a 120 amp alternator 115+23.5= 138.5, which is cutting it close but im not running the nitrous with the radio and its not running max output all of the time

i think the reason why they run so many alternators is beacuse they put out massive amounts of power but they run the cars rairly so if they don't charge fast, the batteries die while they are sitting at the shows with the systems on

any ideas on making a tensioner pulley or something for it? then i can use the redily avaliable belt and not have to worry about adjusting it so often?

email me your pics, I'll host them and we can see them and get ideas on a tensioner.

nisancatron@msn.com

Just go through some spring loaded tensioner pulleys at the parts store and see which on you could mount up and us. They are good for taking 2-6 inches out of the belt depending on what you need.

Or just build an idler pulley and fab up a longer bracket to take up some slack on the system. This would be better than a custom belt, as you'd have easier access to replacements.

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1997 BMW M3 - 3.2litre Inline 6 cylinder

I have a sound system in my car, around 500 watts, I have other electrical accessories as well. I took a alternator off a 86 camaro that was rated at around 96 amps, I took it apart and cleaned it up, stuck it on and ran it, if I turned up the stereo, it would make the belt squeal until it cooked it, the belt would be ruined after about the 3rd go around and dayco belts get expensive fast. THe amp gauge wouldn`t move off of 8 until the belt stopped sqeauling or I turned down the radio.
I went on Ebay and got a 80 amp alternator, completely remanned with 2 year warrenty for less than $100, it solved the problem. I think you should check both alternators, the first alternator I referred to in this post only had 5000 miles on it and it did the same thing yours is doing now, when it`s under load it can`t handle the drain the battery is taking. Being this is a street machine you have, why run a electric water pump? they usually can`t keep a street car cool for very long in heavy traffic. my best suggestion would be to loose all the electrical accessories you can, such as the fan and water pump, and go back with whatever it came stock with, then find a vehicle that matches yours of later years and swap over the entire serpentine system or if not use a aftermarket set up. my next suggestion would be to add more grounds, add one from the battery to the engine block, from the block to the frame, and from the frame to the firewall, use 2 gauge wire from batt block and frame, 10 gauge wire for frame to firewall, clean all the electrical connections and use the proper grease, all these things will help the whole system and make it not have to work no where near as hard to acheive the same results. You can also add relays to the headlights to reduce the load to them, you can do this with other items also. lastly, I wouldn`t even run any audio caps, there good for one peak shot, then it takes them a while to rebuild, and during any song with lots of bass, there`s no where near enough time for them to recharge for the next peak.

This problem you're having is why capacitors are used in large automotive sound systems. They reduce the current spikes in electrical systems caused by large amplifiers peak current drain. Your installer should have suggested them or just included them as part of the job estimate.

Larry

I do have capsitor, both alternators are new I just don't have enough adjustment to make the belt tight enough so it won't slip it even slips right upon startup with the radio off.

By the way I emailed the pics so they should be up soon.

also, no installer i do all my own work, my car never sees a shop except for alignments and thos i do at my buddies shop, im a BMW tech and after ive seen how it is working in the feild, my car will not be trusted to anyone but me and my dad.

oh and evey thing possible is on relays, novas where never made with a serpentine system and the electrical accesories are to help the car make more power through less rotating mass on the engine (ie mechanical fan water pump power steering a/c, i took all of that off) which more than makes up for the alternators aditional drag

I see where the pulley is cooked. The problem is not that the belt is too loose, but that the contact patch is not big enough. You either need to get a bigger pulley with more grip area or run a tensioner so you get more grip area.

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