• If you log in, the ads disappear in the forum and gallery. If you need help logging in or getting registered, send request to: webmaster@southernairboat.com

Caddy still blowing belts!!

jimmyflfr

jimmyflfr

Well-known member
Ok my caddy will not stop blowing the water pump belt. I have changed the waterpump,crank pully and put a new alternator on. Everything lines up perfect but whenever I go up to 3000rpms the thing either twists or flies off. Getting pretty darn old. Ever since I went from a wood prop to warp drive this started.Any suggestions would help.Thanks :evil:
 
do you run napa or the caquest belts,i know they cost twice as much but strech twice as little. the reason i run them is my alt is slightly off center and i hitt 4900rpm on have not thrown one yet,butt i do keep a spare.
 
We had the same problem on my cousins caddy. Could not run it hard for more than 10 minutes and the belt would do the same thing no matter how tight we tightened it. Everything was lined up perfect. We tried the better belts also and with the better belts it wouldn't throw them but it would roll them over.
Try this...
Take the belt off and get a wire wheel that fits on the end on a drill. The ones that are about a 1/2" wide. Use that to clean all 3 grooves. Go around each pulley until all the grooves are shinny clean ALL the way around. Than put the belt back on and try it. I bet it cures your problem.
Even if your groves look good try it. My cousins grooves looked fine but after we cleaned them it has not thrown a belt since and that's been 3 years ago. I would still use the better belt as bondsman suggested but my cousin is cheap and runs the cheap ones :roll:
I honestly don't think it could have anything to do with the prop change but I have been wrong before :oops: Try it and let us know
SB
 
No I have been running top cog belts.Ive been told they are really good but look kinda weak to me.They cost @ 15 bucks.
 
Yea I was thinking of cleaning my pulleys cause they are a bit rusty.I will try that because its a last resort. Thanks. My belts roll to so maby thats the problem.
 
i will try and post a pic from a caddy site where a guy put a tensioner pully on his it was off a mustang and it fit between the alt spacer and the block it wasn't spring loaded you just pushed it tight then tightend the bolt.that should take alot of vibration and flex out,and it was verry cheap from the junkyard.
 
I was thinking of doing that to but I just cant figure out why I have several friends with the same set-up as me(minus the warp drive) and they have all stock pulleys and belts and have no problems
 
i know it is for a serpentine but it would work fine for tension on a v-belt.





nevermind i forgot can't veiw pics without membership i will get the pi and post it in a little bit.
 
her it is.

index_1_1.JPG
 
Been there done that with the belts. Mine would come off no mater what I did. Also kept breaking the alternator bracket. We took someone suggestion from SA and made a bracket. We modified it toward the motor and built a bracket, bottom is like a wishbone to the alternator then bolts the bottom of the Y to the motor. Works great. I have not thrown or broken another belt since. My problem was vibration. You can rev the engine and look at the belt vibrate and flex to where it comes off. Get it close to the motor less belt less flex.

Kim
 
If they are rusty that's your problem.. I thought the same thing... why is no one else having this problem.. Cleaned the grooves and no more problem..
 
my bad i just reread the post and the tentioner was fabbed.never had the rust in the pulley problem but had the dirt dobber in the pulley problem before. :lol:
 
also ruagatr i believe did a serpentine belt setup for his nuttybuddy car,cadillac engine maybe he can give pics or details.
 
Before you give up on the OEM type pulley try using a small width metric belt. On circle track motors we used a deep groove pulley, but in my low budget days I used the narrow metric belt with great results.
 
Either the pulleys are not lined up---and you say they are, or they are grossly rusty with bumps (very common) or they and the propeller are out of balance. I had this problem in 1990 with my warp drives. Never threw a belt till I went with a warp drive. My conclusion, after many months of trial and error, was the old wooden Sensenich absorbed a bunch of vibration that the Warp Drive did not. I used an isuzu tensioner pulley for years till I went with a wide blade carbon prop and then eventually wen twith Richard Potters aluminum mount setup that takes a shorter belt. On my race car I run a Cadillac with a serpentine setup. The Caddy500.com or cadillacpower .com sites have the pictures of my things.

Charles
 
Yea the warp drive does viberate more and I hope it iisnt wearing out my bearings faster,I just built this motor. Maby i will readjust the pitch and see if that helps with the vibration
 
Respectfully, I doubt the warp drive is the vibration source. I always weighed my warp drive blades and they were very close. The warp drive just does not absorb the EXISTING vibration in a setup that a wooden prop will. One of the reasons I run an Innovators West liquid dampener on my Cadillac is to soak up some vibration. It is less of a concern with the Sensenich Superwide 3 blade that I run.

Charles
 
Our alternator bracket tucks the alternator in and uses a 4" shorter belt (69 bucks) and use a Gates Top-Cog belt. They are the only ones we've seen that work and it's what the ARCA boys use. You can get em at advance. Our bracket is designed to use a standard 100 am single wire alt. like a powermaster. You can use the older big one but you must trim about 1/8" from the inside curve for the fan to not rub.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top