130A V-Belt Does it work?

[landshark99]

Running a new 200amp alt on a single vbelt using a Goodyear gatorback belt. I used a crowbar to tighten the belt. No squeal never dropped below 14v yet keeping an eye on it. It is a short belt not sure it matters or helps.

 

[Rustytruck]

tightening a belt down that tight, how long do you expect your alternator bearings to last with such a high side load?

 

[landshark99]

tightening a belt down that tight, how long do you expect your alternator bearings to last with such a high side load?

Longer than the engine

 

[ntsqd]

Possibly that isn't saying much.

I have experienced killing the alt. bearings from an overly tight belt when I was a high school kid.

 

[Stingray240cs]

I had slippage on my 130amp conversion until i bought a quality Gates belt. I think it was $25 for the belt compared to $9 give or take. Spend a little extra on the belt and you should be fine.

 

[KyleQ]

I never had a single issue with my boosted P pump or 130A 3G on a single v-belt. Not once-

I love my serpentine Explorer setup - serpentine is the way of the future, zero drawbacks.

 

[Broncobowsher]

So am I the only one who can run EFI (with 2 pumps), lights, twin electric wiper motors, Electronic transmission, heated mirrors (along with the heater blower) on a stock 60A alternator? Lights don't dim at idle, but will if you lug the engine below the 700 RPM idle.

 

[ntsqd]

I kind of feel like with anything modern transplanted that ~100A worth of Alt. should be included. Not that it won't work below that, just that the margin of safety is better. If you can fit it with minimal disruption I see no downside. I ran a 90A Bosch off a Jetta on my carb'd, AOD'd '67 Ranchero's 302 with a single belt. That alt is now on my semi-DD '65 Valiant w/ 170 cubes of Leaning Tower of Power with a single belt. Turns out that Ford alt. pulleys fit on Bosch alts. Who knew? Patch, the Wonder Yota, runs around with a 104A CS-130 because I got tired of spending ridiculous sums of cash on OE type alts. and regulators that didn't last. I get way more than twice the life from the CS-130's for ~1/2 the price. Much more ampacity than those and I'd be going serpentine preferably or at least double V-belts.

If it works I wouldn't mess with it, but I wouldn't go out of my way to make it work. If it doesn't then a mild upgrade is a reasonable thing to do.

 

[WheelHorse]

Correct, to properly do a 130A upgrade requires a 4ga charge wire, preferably fused, removing stock volt regulator, cleaning up wiring, finding either a good used 130A clocked at 6&12 or buying a new one from one of the vendors and then if you want the rig to look someone stock, add the in-gauge volt meter.

Even if I did all that, let's say buy everything new, Alt from JFB is 165 (plus shipping) no core for a 130A alt, charge wire with fuse from WH's for 35 plus shipping and then the volt meter for 45 bucks or so as well.

Doing it correctly, there's a chance it could squeal or I have to use a new belt every X amount of miles depending on me probably never straining the belt on a stock rig. Opinions are still 50/50 on using a single belt to turn the 130A alt.

I've seen some say like blu and bowsher that the stock alt can provide plenty of juice and then a handful of others talking about needing more juice, but to do it right, one needs to upgrade to a serp yada yada.

Here in IL, yards have nothing but corroded crap, so going picking isn't the best option.

 

[ntsqd]

When I put the 90A Bosch on the Valiant I bypassed the ammeter. Mopar, in it's infinite wisdom, used a firewall connector with contacts not quite up to the stock amperage when aged & known to occasionally catch fire! A short jumper of 8ga. from the alt's '+' stud to the battery hot on the starter solenoid fixed that.

There's Right and then there's "Right", and most times just Right is good enough.

 

[KyleQ]

It's really easy to pull the alternator apart for sand blasting and painting - here in the midwest everything is corroded but 10 minutes worth of effort and it looks better than new.

No point in fusing the alternator - its not going to put out a ton of amps, its going to put out a ton of volts and a fuse doesn't care about volts. You don't need 4GA either - the factory 6-8ga that is run off the alternator in a Taurus is more than adequate. I used alternator form the pick n pull is $27 and if it doesn't work you bring it back for another one.

This isn't complicated or expensive - the v belt pulley bolts right on in place of the serp pulley - I've swapped them on a trailer before with a screwdriver and an adjustable wrench.

The swap clears up a ton of clutter on that side of the engine bay and the only tricky part is swapping out the amp gauge for a voltage gauge if you want to go that extra mile.

 

[ntsqd]

I don't normally fuse alternators either, but they do put out up to their max amperage in order to maintain the system voltage.

At somewhere around 130-150 amps I might consider using the right kind of fuse on the alt's output. Below that I'm not as concerned.

 

[bronconut73]

Sure, but some don't bother to complete the mod.
Mounting a bigger alternator is the easy part.
That's what this thread is about.
The owner is concerned about squealing belts.
A bigger alternator is fine as long as you are ready for bigger wiring, a retrofitted voltmeter, and a serpentine belt setup.
My 60 amp alternator works too well to mess with.

I am running two electric fans, a/c, stereo, etc....
If it is raining....wipers, a/c, both electric fans, stereo, lights,.....she will run down to 8 volts at idle. If I bring the rpm up to about 950 the voltage goes up to about 11 volts... The stereo, elec. fans, a/c is all non-stock stuff, so it is reasonable that I need to upgrade my alternator right?

My stock alternator cannot seem to keep up. I need to upgrade....I think.....

This has been a very educational thread. Glad I checked it out.

 

[WheelHorse]

bronconut, I'd find a tech with an amp clamp, run the rpm's up, turn on all of your stuff and see how many amps everything pulls.

You might have to amp clamp a few individual wires and add them up, but it would be good information to disseminate on the forum.

Also wouldn't hurt to check for voltage drops at connections and through the main charge wire as well.

 

[Ly-mo]

I say do it. I did mine last weekend. V belt on a '76 with a thermactor to pump works just fine. New Gates alt and ps belts from Napa cost as much as the alternator and wiring from a '99 mustang 3.8 at my local u-pull-it.

The Mustang harness fits like it was made for the bronco and already has fusible link in it. You can then solder the appropriate wires from your old regulator to the connector on the mustang harness.

I did have to clearance both the alt/thermactor bracket and the alternator case quite a bit.

Anyway, no squeal or slippage with a tight, but not over tightened new belt. I've never had such stable charging system output. I only wish I had done this years ago.