Has anybody changed over to a serpentine accessory belt drive? Good idea?

 

Lots of people have. There are pros and cons to both systems.

V belt pros:
1) There are 3 different belts running the water pump, so if one breaks the pump still runs.

2) Simpler belt routing.

3) Eliminating air pump or A/C compressor is easier.

V belt cons:
1) More belts to change

2) Brackets that attatch all over the front of the engine

3) Multiple brackets are heavier

Serp belt pros:
1) Only 1 belt to change.

2) Bracketry is lighter

3) Fewer brackets

4) Brackets don't hook to the water pump (easier to change the pump)

Serp belt cons:
1) If the belt breaks you loose everything (keep a spare and something to move the tensioner)

2) Harder to eliminate unwanted accessories.

3) If the bracket breaks, very expensive to replace.


It boils down to what you want and if you want the expense of changing to the serp setup.

 

Yep. And easier to pull the timing cover off to change a cam too.

 

Sure you can remove unwanted accessories...I did a smog pump and AC delete. I am not even running my passenger side bracket anymore. I made my alternator adjustable. Now I am running a 50'' belt and just my pass side bracket. Its sweet.

 

Re-read. No where did it say you CAN'T remove them, its just easier to do it with V belts.

 

Vbelts slip more.

surp belts last longer


surp require less tenson on the belt then the Vbelt does.. that lowers strain on the pullys and gives longer bearing life.

surp belts dont break easily.... and give plenty of warning before they start to go real bad..... Vbelts tend to jsut GO...

 

Gotta disagree with this one. When I replaced my engine at 140k miles and 16 years old, I was still running the factory supplied belts on all accessories (V belts). They have never slipped or broken, cracked or checked.
Along with serpentine belts V belt technology has come a long way in the past 20 years, they all last longer and perform better than they ever did.

 

BUT

serpentine belts got the same advances in compounds

and serpentine belts have more surface area.....


i didnt say Vbelts couldnt do a good job.... just that serpentine ones do a better one.

 

Hmmm how about the best of both worlds?

My little setup, using march pullies, & off the shelf 6 rib belts.

Ron

 

thats still a surp belt system IMO.... but yea, that works great.. looks nice too.

 

too bad it's so freakin' exspensive.

 

naaa, cost under 300 bucks.

btw: It's (2) serpentine belts, and only uses the inside. I don't if that still qualifies 'MrDude_1'? It does use serpentine belts, but not so much the system...

The main reasons for taking this route is no brackets or tensionors needed for a regular serpentine setup, and I got sick of throwing my V-belts at 6K rpms.
(Yes, I do have an aftermarket alt bracket, but you can use stock vbelt brackets.)

Did I mension it uses light weight aluminium pullies, in a high water flow ratio.

Ron

 

Originally posted by Morley
Along with serpentine belts V belt technology has come a long way in the past 20 years, they all last longer and perform better than they ever did[/b][/quote]
Not that much more surface area, when you consider that a V belt also uses its sides for traction, the contact area is almost equal.

And the second one.... You'll never convince me that serpentine belts are any better than V belts, I own both and neither has ever been a problem (except that the books are wrong as to what size serp belt goes on my Firebird) I've had my V belt cars at over 5k RPM with all accessories on (lights, heater etc) and never had a failure or jumped belt.

To the original poster...if you have V belts and they are working, then you gotta ask; is it worth the $$ to convert to another belt setup?

 

Just curious where you got the pulleys at? and if you still have the p/n s for them? i like your setup, im thinking of doing the same thing

 

I will get some pictures of my setup ASAP. I have a serpentine setup with just one bracket. It was very simple...total cost 20$...10 for a belt and 10 for a old style adjustable bracket.

I will get pictures. It really cleans everything up nicely.

 

Scroll a couple of messages down, and it's all there.

https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/sho...5&pagenumber=3

Bought it all from Summit.

Good Luck,

Ron