V2 Belt Shredding Fixes
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Supporting Maxima.org Member
Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 275
V2 Belt Shredding Fixes
The V2 supercharger setup has been plagued by belt shredding. From reading many posts; there seem to be several causes and cures. (with some help) I hope to summarize some causes and cures, so others with this problem will have a diagnostic to go through instead of buying belts by the case! Please post other ideas; and I'll try to add some pics. If useful, maybe this can become a sticky?
Cause 1:(with wink to Matty) Faulty design and materials of V2 mounting bracket. It's aluminum, it flexes, it expands, it's complicated.
Solution 1: Obtain a V1 bracket, which doesn't have the same trouble.
Cause 2: Belt tension. Too loose allows belt to jump ribs, and shred. Too tight wears bearings and plastic pulleys.
Solution 2:
a.) Adjust belt tension so that you can just turn belt 90 degrees with thumb and forefinger, between crankshaft pulley and AC pulley. Check & adjust tension regularly, at least every oil change.
b.) Vortech / Stillen supplied SC pulley has no shoulders to discourage belt jumping. Others do. I bought mine from 928 motorsports. Their website currently lists 2.93" as largest size, but they sold me a 3.125" pulley. Also PHONE ASP. They make stuff for our cars that isn't listed on their site.
Cause 3: Belt alignment is bad.
Outdoors or with proper ventilation, set parking brake and chock wheels. Jack up passenger side of car, support on jackstands. Remove wheel, plastic wheel well shroud and plastic shroud under engine. Start engine and put on eye and face protection, because you could have dirt, oil and belt bits fly at you. Go under car and observe where belt tracks on pulleys, particularly idler and tensioner pulleys. Check different engine speeds. If it isn't dead center, you have a problem. With engine off, you can also check alignments with a straight edge &/or laser line.
Solutions:
3a). Are all bolts in and tight? Did you miss any? Alternator properly mounted & Tight?
3b). Is the bracket and tensioner assembly tight against engine, where attached with the 7/32" allen head cap screw? Some people had to grind the bracket a bit to allow bracket to fit flush to tensioner.
3c). Are the tensioner and idler pulleys and bearings tight and in good shape? The composite material may wear unevenly and bearings can give up the ghost. ASP will make you a set of steel pulleys with higher RPM rated, replaceable bearings for $130 if this is your trouble.
3d). (this was my trouble) Is supercharger pulley not aligned with other pulleys? If belt is centered on all other pulleys but is off center on idler pulley (the one without sides) this may be your trouble. Vortech pulley can only be mounted one way, BUT 928 Motorsports sells pulleys with side shoulders and a spacer set; so they can be mounted in different positions on the SC shaft. Unfortunately, the spacers come in a set of five, and you need six. Just buy two spacer sets, and give the extra four to friends. Measure where the Vortech pulley rides. Since the 928 pulley has shoulders it is wider. You must measure to the center of a rib, not the edge of the pulley. Then look at how far off the center of the idler the belt rides. If it is riding toward the road wheel, you need to put the new SC pulley that much closer to the engine. If it is riding toward the engine, the pulley needs to move toward the wheel.
Install new pulley, spacers and belt, check alignment again. Hopefully it is good.
A more neanderthal method of doing the same thing is to either put thin spacer washers between bracket and engine as needed, or slightly grind bracket mounting points to move closer to engine.
Problem 4.) Accelerated belt wear. The V2 setup, and the way we drive, places extra stress on belts. Belt is wound at high speeds around 76mm and 2" pulleys. If you are only shredding belts every 2-3 years, this may be your problem.
Solution 4) Some people have reported longer life with Gatorback belts, or genuine, not-generic Gates. You could buy a V1 plate, but you should probably just buy belts... You can also carry a stock size belt to slap on in emergencies, bypassing SC. JC Whitney also sells an emergency serpentine belt that's easy to install for emergencies. Keep it in your trunk beside your spare MAF!
Cause 1:(with wink to Matty) Faulty design and materials of V2 mounting bracket. It's aluminum, it flexes, it expands, it's complicated.
Solution 1: Obtain a V1 bracket, which doesn't have the same trouble.
Cause 2: Belt tension. Too loose allows belt to jump ribs, and shred. Too tight wears bearings and plastic pulleys.
Solution 2:
a.) Adjust belt tension so that you can just turn belt 90 degrees with thumb and forefinger, between crankshaft pulley and AC pulley. Check & adjust tension regularly, at least every oil change.
b.) Vortech / Stillen supplied SC pulley has no shoulders to discourage belt jumping. Others do. I bought mine from 928 motorsports. Their website currently lists 2.93" as largest size, but they sold me a 3.125" pulley. Also PHONE ASP. They make stuff for our cars that isn't listed on their site.
Cause 3: Belt alignment is bad.
Outdoors or with proper ventilation, set parking brake and chock wheels. Jack up passenger side of car, support on jackstands. Remove wheel, plastic wheel well shroud and plastic shroud under engine. Start engine and put on eye and face protection, because you could have dirt, oil and belt bits fly at you. Go under car and observe where belt tracks on pulleys, particularly idler and tensioner pulleys. Check different engine speeds. If it isn't dead center, you have a problem. With engine off, you can also check alignments with a straight edge &/or laser line.
Solutions:
3a). Are all bolts in and tight? Did you miss any? Alternator properly mounted & Tight?
3b). Is the bracket and tensioner assembly tight against engine, where attached with the 7/32" allen head cap screw? Some people had to grind the bracket a bit to allow bracket to fit flush to tensioner.
3c). Are the tensioner and idler pulleys and bearings tight and in good shape? The composite material may wear unevenly and bearings can give up the ghost. ASP will make you a set of steel pulleys with higher RPM rated, replaceable bearings for $130 if this is your trouble.
3d). (this was my trouble) Is supercharger pulley not aligned with other pulleys? If belt is centered on all other pulleys but is off center on idler pulley (the one without sides) this may be your trouble. Vortech pulley can only be mounted one way, BUT 928 Motorsports sells pulleys with side shoulders and a spacer set; so they can be mounted in different positions on the SC shaft. Unfortunately, the spacers come in a set of five, and you need six. Just buy two spacer sets, and give the extra four to friends. Measure where the Vortech pulley rides. Since the 928 pulley has shoulders it is wider. You must measure to the center of a rib, not the edge of the pulley. Then look at how far off the center of the idler the belt rides. If it is riding toward the road wheel, you need to put the new SC pulley that much closer to the engine. If it is riding toward the engine, the pulley needs to move toward the wheel.
Install new pulley, spacers and belt, check alignment again. Hopefully it is good.
A more neanderthal method of doing the same thing is to either put thin spacer washers between bracket and engine as needed, or slightly grind bracket mounting points to move closer to engine.
Problem 4.) Accelerated belt wear. The V2 setup, and the way we drive, places extra stress on belts. Belt is wound at high speeds around 76mm and 2" pulleys. If you are only shredding belts every 2-3 years, this may be your problem.
Solution 4) Some people have reported longer life with Gatorback belts, or genuine, not-generic Gates. You could buy a V1 plate, but you should probably just buy belts... You can also carry a stock size belt to slap on in emergencies, bypassing SC. JC Whitney also sells an emergency serpentine belt that's easy to install for emergencies. Keep it in your trunk beside your spare MAF!
Great post, Mike! Should be a stickie!
I'm happy with Gates belts and haven't tried the Gatorbacks yet.
The toughest part is finding that sweet spot in belt tightening. Once you've found it its perfect until you start to mess with changing pulleys and then forget how it was set up before.
I've found that during the winter/spring season as the temperatures start to fall the belt will start to slip and squeal. A can of Belt Dressing spray will help but its only temporary and the overspray will collect dust and dirt. Tightening the belt further will rid you of the squeal but it will also bring you closer to premature bearing failure. For the upcoming winter I plan to slip on the original belt and plug the oil feed line.
I'm happy with Gates belts and haven't tried the Gatorbacks yet.
The toughest part is finding that sweet spot in belt tightening. Once you've found it its perfect until you start to mess with changing pulleys and then forget how it was set up before.
I've found that during the winter/spring season as the temperatures start to fall the belt will start to slip and squeal. A can of Belt Dressing spray will help but its only temporary and the overspray will collect dust and dirt. Tightening the belt further will rid you of the squeal but it will also bring you closer to premature bearing failure. For the upcoming winter I plan to slip on the original belt and plug the oil feed line.
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Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 7
Do you know where i can buy a Vortech V2 SC by itself the plate i'm getting from another member.. and every thing else custom made.. any info would help out alot to e mail me back at fcyancey24@yahoo.com thanks!
Originally Posted by Yancey24
Do you know where i can buy a Vortech V2 SC by itself the plate i'm getting from another member.. and every thing else custom made.. any info would help out alot to e mail me back at fcyancey24@yahoo.com thanks!
Counter Clock Wise Rotation and Straight Discharge
-matt
well from my experience the shredding comes from two things. that pulley with side rails (no room for error) and the imfamous allen screw that goes behind the s/c pulley a lot of people leave them out. when i got my first kit from stillen i had belt issues for weeks. finally after changing the pulley to a wider metal one with out side rails and installing that p i t a screw its been 2yrs straight with not a sign of belt issues. and im also running smaller pullies up to 2.87 and the belt remains flawless.
Thread Starter
Supporting Maxima.org Member
Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 275
I now have three weeks and over 3,000 kilometers on properly aligned SC pulley, and no signs of belt wear. I drove 1,000 kilometers yesterday, most at 145km/h (90mph) and no problems at all. Why can't my cruise control go higher? Grrr. I could set the cruise control at any speed on my old turbo mazda... drove to Fort MacMurray a few times with it set at 180km/h. That's 112mph for you Americans.
:o)
Originally Posted by mhadford
I now have three weeks and over 3,000 kilometers on properly aligned SC pulley, and no signs of belt wear. I drove 1,000 kilometers yesterday, most at 145km/h (90mph) and no problems at all. Why can't my cruise control go higher? Grrr. I could set the cruise control at any speed on my old turbo mazda... drove to Fort MacMurray a few times with it set at 180km/h. That's 112mph for you Americans.
Good info. I was wondering how your solution would stand up long-term. Sounds like you got it. Sweet. Thanks for the update.
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