FAQ: Upgrading Serpentine Belts & Pulleys?

alright. yeah went by auto zone picked up a 3.5 pulley 4 the s.c tensioner and it fixed my problem max boost is back up 2 10 psi!

Alright. Glad that fixed it.
Can't wait to get my 3.4" MPS on and increase boost.
Gotta do the rockers and springs first though.

but my belts r rubbing and u can smell the ruber under wot.

just tried using a 1/2 inch shorter belt it dosen"t rub but know i think it sliping agian!

I use a 1" shorter than stock belt and haven't had to change any idler sizes. It works perfectly with my 3.4 and 3.2 pullies.

Do you have any of the larger idlers?

Does your tensioner arm move smoothly and freely with the belt off? If it's binding or rough in it's travel you can have the belt loosen up on you.

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just tried using a 1/2 inch shorter belt it dosen"t rub but know i think it sliping agian!

Why do you think it's slipping?

s.c belt i have a lost in boost when i 1st put the 3.5 tensioner pully i was seeing 10psi with my 3.4 sc pulley but under wot the belt rubed and you could smell the burning ruber. started seeing a decrease in my boost. so i took the belt back off and it actually shaved the groves on the belt down it was rubbing so bad. so i tried a 1/2 inch shorter belt with the stock tensioner pulley 2 see if it would slip like the stock size belt did and if i can get more clearance. i got plenty of clearnce but was only seeing about 7psi of boost like with the stock belt. i just got done a bit ago instaling a 1inch shorter belt it barley fit haven't taking a test drive yet. could it be slipping that bad 2 loose 3psi or does my problem lie elsewhere?

1wickedninja wrote:

i just got done a bit ago instaling a 1inch shorter belt it barley fit haven't taking a test drive yet. could it be slipping that bad 2 loose 3psi or does my problem lie elsewhere?

Test drive and see.!!!!

How was it figuring out your 1" shorter belt? Still have the Part Number? What kind of belt did you get and where from?

wierd im still not getting boost with the 3.4 as what i did with the 3.5 i did go 2 a 3inch shorty DP with a 3inch pipe in place of the cat. but still im seeing stock boost #s with a 3.4. wonder if my boost gauge is messed up? it is a cheap 1 and i brought it used from a friend.

im gonna try again this weekend with the 3.5 tensioner pulley and the stock belt maybe my belt was a little stretched causing it 2 rub the 1st time i tried gonna get a new stock size belt. oh and i just ordered a front plog from zzp!!!

Josh,
Try using some punctuation when you write. It get's a little difficult reading your post's sometimes.

lol my bad

I'm guessing you don't have a belt slip issue, it sounds like there might be something else going on. Can you take a picture of your belt tensioner, idler and supercharger pulleys? I'd like to compare them to what I see on mine. Typically people don't have belt slip until they get to very small pulleys.

I agree with Rick about the punctuation you are not using - it is very difficult to interperet what you are saying.

Yeah i can take some pics. But it have 2 wait until tomorrow. I'm about to leave for work soon. that was another thing I was thinking, is maybe my tensioner is going bad.

Fragged a belt on the way to school today. I just had the stupid thing replaced too.

matt270avian wrote:

Fragged a belt on the way to school today. I just had the stupid thing replaced too.

Check your idler pullies and tensioners. Make sure the tensioner pulley is in line with the other pullies (I've seen the tensioner arm pull away from it's base before). Serp belts are very durable.

Will do. If they need replaced, any suggestions? Any way I could get smaller ones that would put out more power?

Smaller idler pulleys would need a shorter belt. Besides, they wouldn't make a difference in power. There are larger water pump and alternator pulleys to slow those both down, but then you would need a larger belt. Not worth it IMHO. Don't you have enough power with a 3.5" SC pulley?

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Don't you have enough power with a 3.5" SC pulley?

NO. Enough is never enough. Thanks for the advice though, I won't bother with other pulleys.



Well there's your problem. We dislodged the old belt because it got stuck behind the crankshaft pulley. We then discovered that the 3" idler pulley bearing had failed. Ran to AutoZone 10 minutes before the were closing, talked the hopeless employee through what we needed, and replaced the pulley in a dark park n ride lot with just the light of phones, a streetlamp, and the headlights from the truck. I babied it home on the old belt with dad following in the truck. Going to have to leave it parked until Saturday when we can put the new belt on among other things.

matt what year is your riv? mines a 97 and i found a few shortcuts on the belt to do with the year may work on other years too

Mine's a 96. Should be the same layout as yours.

when you get the engine supported and take off the mount drop the engine down enough untill you have a straight shot at the bolt into the bracket. once its out and you drop the spacer the belt change is easy. when putting it back in grind the opisite sides of the spacer at angle to make sliding it in easier and then your all done

joshuadalegrimes wrote:

when you get the engine supported and take off the mount drop the engine down enough untill you have a straight shot at the bolt into the bracket. once its out and you drop the spacer the belt change is easy. when putting it back in grind the opisite sides of the spacer at angle to make sliding it in easier and then your all done

Even easier is if you cut the spacer right in half. Then in the future you don't need to lower the engine so the bolt can come all the way out - the bolt only needs to come out far enough to drop half the spacer out, then you can slide the belt through that space.

Alright, im thinking i need to pick up a bigger idler pulley... The pulley i have is a 3.2, and i think i ought to be able to run it, but i need a bigger idler, is http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/detail/GATE/38019.oap?pt=02733&ppt=C0328 what i need?

Just to clarify, i am putting the motor in the car right now and this issue arose.

I dont know if this is the proper place for this or not... I hope so!