<VV> 63' belt tosser! need help

[Ray "Grymm" Rodriguez]

Hey folks,  

I've been driving (late model) Corvairs daily for much of the past 9 years and I've never thrown a belt.  I'm aware of the loose belt rule and cold tensioning procedure (able to turn the alt/gen pulley etc.).

For some reason the 63' 102 keeps throwing belts on me.  Admittedly I don't have a clarks belt on it yet, that is the next step.. but the belt I'm using though not wrapped is the correct (narrow) width.  I also used coarse sand paper to clean most of the rust from inside the pulleys (since the car sat for 27 years).

Now I know that this car has the steel fan.. which increases the odds of a thrown belt.. I also notice it has a solid pulley rather than harmonic balancer.  I'm still using a generator, though I have a 64 generator (and gen fan) installed now.  

Increasing the tension seems to be helping, but if it wasnt for the guard on the idler I think it would still be throwing it constantly.  I notice quite a bit of wobble in the belt, particularly between the idler and engine pulleys.

Missy just threw the belt on her first trip home (a 100 mile trip) and I had to drive down and rescue her.  Despite my warnings to watch for the light, listen for ping, and shut the engine off immediately she ignored the ping, didn't notice the light, and ran it till it quit and generated a big smoke cloud....   When I got there 30 mins later and put the belt back on the car started right up and ran perfectly... these cars are amazing!




Ray "Grymm" Rodriguez III
Lake Ariel, PA
CORSA member
66' Corsa 140/4 coupe
65' Corsa 140/4 coupe (under construction and almost done!)
63' Monza PG coupe (almost done!)