85Procharged383

I have read many a post on how guys with Superchargers have problems with slipping belts. I too had this problem. Last week I put the 2.55 Pulley on my car, and made a tensioner "AID" - see pics and am getting a full 12LBS at 5,000 RPM's at the Intake, with an Intercooler. The CAR IS AWESOME ! Thing is, when it slips at upper RPM's, it also was slipping at low RPM's say off of a "kick". Now, the car has more initial "PUNCH", which tells me it was slipping off throttle too.

Anyway, I think alot of guys will be intrigued by this setup, and some will say I'm a fool. I don't care, to me, this is the best thing since sliced bread... and IT WORKS ! ! ! I have run my car like this for a week now, and the belt is tight, and can go as tight as I want it. I know there maybe concern about accessory strain, but If I was so worried about that, I wouldn't have bought a Supercharger. If they last 50,000 miles instead of 100,000 miles, thats ok with me. This is simple, and adjustable to suit you. Since I tighten'd it, I have not had to go back and tighten more, but this was not a "brand" new belt, as I used it before with the regular tensioner. I mean, some guys are talking about spending $1000 on a 8 rib pulley swap, but I seriously don't think that would fix the problem... 12lbs and a swing arm tensioner just don't mix. I bet it still slips even with an 8 rib setup. Oh, by the way, I have $5 in this thing... including the Bracket, and "J" Screw. I guess I could paint it black or even powder coat it and make it fancy...heh heh.


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BubbleHead

That's actually a good idea. You could even loosen it up if you wanted a little slippage.

McGyver would be proud of you. :cheers: :lol:

krivera

Nice idea! i was thinking of doing the same thing! Well no more drawing board....i will create mine and give you some results aswell! :D

85Procharged383

What you want to do is make sure the belt routing will be like mine, as far as the idler and SC pulley. I don’t think ATI has the routing like this. The way I have it, more belt is wrapped around the SC pulley. One thing that I did was “elongate” the hole top to bottom on the idler pulley hole, to allow more space between the belts now that it wraps almost all the way around the SC pulley. You also want a to figure out which belt will “just barely fit”. I had to rotate the fact. Tensioner all the way (no slack) and barely got the belt on. This allowed like a ¼ inch of movement once the tensioner is let loose. So, by doing this, I assure myself plenty of travel left in the tensioner. In other words, if you start out in the middle, you will end up into the new bracket before you get it as tight as you want it. Also notice that on the bracket (closest to the head) it is left a little long so that it rest up against one of the studs. This keeps the new bracket arm from swinging downward. Someone could probably eng. this piece till it was something really marketable. I left it simple incase I wanted to remove it easily. Also, you’ll need to put in your car the wrenches to atleast get this thing off should a belt break, in addition to the tensioner arm tool. You will need the socket for the tensioner bolt and a socket for the new J-screw nut. If your like me, you probably have the usual “Vette” wrenches in the car anyway. Good Luck, and Email me if you have any problems… and Enjoy that X-tra boost.

krivera

Nice! i am thinking of leaving work and go home and work on my car! i have been needing this for some time...i have noticed when i got my car with my blower i was making tones of boost but i think (100K) miles on this beast the tensioner is getting a little worn out so i will test on the old one and then get a new one (tensioner) and set it up and enjoy the boost. i will get you the results? how long did it take to do this?

85Procharged383

About an hour of starring at it.... with the pieces in my hand.... and about another 45 minutes to drill the holes, and cut the sucker. Its a lil tricky when you put the belt on... keep the bracket falling down as you put the belt on (towards you). Its kinda aggrevating till ya figure out how it all goes. Good Luck!

ForceInjection

WOW...that is really NICE. I'm very impressed...really!!!! Please, keep us informed on the amount of wear you belt receives.

bill mcdonald

:cool:

Keep us updated if anything happens, like the alt dies, or if the belt shreds etc...

krivera

Took my tensioner off last night and it is shot (100K of use) and so that is my plan at this point is to get a new one and i was not able to rig mine like you did yours my tensioner on my 91 is maybe 6" long but i am sure i can figure something out? Also i will see the difference from my old tensioner to my new one...might not need to invent something like what you have???? well i will give you result in a bit!
L8 :D

XTwinTurbo

I can't see any of the pics!

Can someone email me the images @ rsharma@usa.com.

Thanks in advance.

Sharky Guam

:cool: :cool: :cool:

SnakeCharmer

85: what is your compression in your 383? what kind of hp #'s where u making with just the 383 then after the SC!! Thanks!

gcrouse

Yeah, I thought that looked different!

I relocated my idler puller much closer to the blower (just enough to slip the belt in) and higher up. I get about 3/4 wrap around the blower pulley- see pics...

krivera

Well I have still not made my bracket for my tensioner but I thought I would call ASP Racing to see if they could build me a custom 8 rib pulley system and they said that they would not be able to for my 1991 but for the LT1's they could? The problem being the space on the crank pulley and the Air Conditioning pulley they don’t make? So I really thing that Gcrouse has the solution or fix for slippage for the older vettes? Just wanted to give you guys an update.

gcrouse

Hey thanks for keeping us updated! I also tried Danny's idea and built my very own "tensioner assist" the other day. But after seeing how much that thing bounces around I didn't want to make it solid; just add more spring to increase belt tension while still allowing it to move. From Home Depot: 5" corner brace, 3" trampoline spring, 3/8" threaded rod and nuts. Pretty easy actually- the holes in the brace were almost in the right place- just enlarged them a bit.

When changing the belt, I used to be able to push the tensioner down with my hand or just by pulling the belt- not anymore! There's not much adjustment left right now cause the longer belt is on it; but it's already real tight. I'll have to get the next shorter belt when I change pulleys and then I'll have lots of adjustment range. Are we having fun yet?

Mo_Bandy

85,

Looks great, I wish I had a procharger :D My tensioner is burried so deep I could only wish to improvise something like that. You definately have the "pulley wrap" issue solved! good luck with it!

Mo