So I'm driving to work this morning when some guy in a slammed ack-ura tries to take me at the stop light...

so I punch it as soon as I'm rolling a bit, when the RPM's hit about 4K, the tires break free and start spinning... I drop into 2nd and feather it a bit, but the tires are still burning...

Finally, I hook up and embarassed the guy, when BANG!!

This loud noise... so I'm going fast enough to make a right turn and pull into a parking lot - without letting him know I'm injured... Open the hood, and there she is... lying there, all spread out all over the place, oops.. sorry, wrong forum...

So I look at the belt and there's no way of missing the fact that half of the Gatorback drive belt is gone! There's little strips of it hanging on here and there, but for the most part I have half a drive belt!

I ended up cutting the rest of the belt away, and driving to a shop I refer people to.... Tony's still recovering from back surgery a few weeks ago, so I'm not gonna have him do it...

So I should get my car back tomorrow, and he's gonna give me as much of a break as he can, but ****!! I'll bet he's put in about 8 hours into it....

I'm gonna have to borrow my friends credit card to pay....

I'm still running with the plastic $teallin pulley and I'll find out from the mechanic tomorrow what he thinks caused the belt to shred, but anyone have any ideas?

 

Its probably the alignment. So was your engine completely warmed up before you stomped on the gas?

As an SC owner you should learn how to take it apart and reinstall it. Its not that bad. Saves you pocket money.

My belt hopped and lost some ribs last summer when the engine was cold and I stomped it.

 

The engine was either fully warmed, or just a tad cooler, based on the temp needle...

Yeah, I'll probably have to learn.... but hopefully this won't happen again! Next time I PLAN on taking it off, is for the intercooler install and to put the 2.87" pulley on...

 

how long have u had the belt? I shredded my unfortunately at fontana. it jumped a rib and started to shred. the fuqed up part about that was I didn't even get to race. and yeah since u have the S/C off get the metal pulley. start fresh. and when my belt shredded it was prolly allignment. good luck bro

 

I've had the belt as long as i've had the s/c, about 4-5 months now...?

shops already got the whole thing together... gonna pick it up later today... cut me a killer deal too!

They said they used a gates belt instead of the gatorback too. He said that the gatorback, with all the cross cuts on it, probably doesn't grip the pulley as well as a normal gates type belt...

maybe something we should all think about in the future...

 

hmmm....I am also trying the gator back as we speak. I had the gates. So I will keep the gator belt in mind. did u get the metal pulley?

 

no metal pulley yet... something i'll definitely be doing though... but the plastic one is still ok for me...

 

doesnt sound like you have enough miles on your set up for it to be the idler pulley. your belt may have gotten alittle loose and jumped a couple ribs. this happened to me in december but by the grace of god i looked under the hood right after it must have happened. after tightening the belt i GAINED 1PSI, so it worked out good for me (running the gates belt)

 

I am still on plastic pullies. I drive my 95 everyday. The Gatorback belt is a better belt then gates. Have you had a gates belt in there it probably would have shredded completely.

 

I don't know....if the gators is better then the gates....I am gettin pros and cons. I was told the gates would last longer cuz it was more flimzy and flexible where it would get more miles out of it. where the gator belt is stronger but might have that tendency to crack...from other ppl experience. i had that gates belt where it didn't shred completely ...lucky me. but what do I know....I will soon find out on this one.

 

The benefit of the Gatorback is that it most likely won't shred all the way allowing you to at least get home.

I blew 2 Gates belts, and each time they snapped entirely. Luckily I was pretty close to home each time. Without the belt, the alternator isn't spinning and you only have the battery to keep the car running. If you're far from home, then you might not make it.

 

In my experience the Gates haven't snapped apart. They've only shed 1 or 2 ribs at most. I always carry a spare belt just in case!

 

I wish mine had only lost one or two ribs. When my belts went, I would first hear a funny sound, then within seconds a pop, a thunk and then I would smell burning rubber and my Battery light would go on. Pop the hood, and sure enough there would be rubber shrapnel and powder all over the engine and the belt would be snapped.

 

That's what happened to me...

 

how far would you say you could drive before the battery gives out? how far can you drive on a shredded belt in other words

 

my belt came off from alignment problems. maximumtuning recently
fixed it up and i put on the gatorback. it has a lot of traction and
is very quiet. if your s/c is aligned right no matter what belt you have
it wont break just wear. also i brought an emergency belt that snaps right on. i used it to get my car to the shop 1 hour from me. i brought it from jc whitney it really works.

 

Cmax do you have the part number for that emergency belt? Or a link? Thanks.

 

the link is www.jcwhitney.com thats for the stock replacment
it snaps right on dont need any tools. also find out if they have
one for the s/c. i dont know maybe they can hold a couple of runs
if yours break at a bad time..let me know