Alternator and headers questions

Why does my alternator belt come off the pulley and firmly wedge itself between the fan and the water pump each time my motor climbs above 5500 rpm? I have replaced the fan belt each time this has happened, and even tried several different brands of belts to no avail. Also, I just bought a set of Hooker Super Comp headers, the black painted ones, and a week later, they look like shit. The paint is peeling and flaking, and on the areas right after the flange, on the radius where it turns to go down and under the car, the paint is almost totally gone. I am about to take them off and have them ceramic coated. Please help

 

Belts....if your pulleys are aligned correctly, and not bent, then I offer two suggestions.

One, make sure they are the right size belts for the pulleys. You can't run a 1/2" v-belt in a pulley designed for a 3/8" v-belt.

Two, don't run belts with serrations in the vee area like Gates and NAPA. Try Dayco or another belt that is smoothe in the bottom vee area. It's okay to have "top cogs" like some Dayco belts have, as long as they are not down in the groove of the pulley.

What happens is at high RPM the belt stretches a little, then tose serrations act like stairs and walk the belt right off the pulleys.

Header paint.....it has been my experience that unless you spend big-bucks on specially coated headers, the paint is just there to keep them from rusting in the box. As soon as heat is introduced it begins to burn away. Add a little moisture and your headers look like crap in no time.

If you don't want to send them out, buy some BBQ paint and do them at home. You'll probably have to do them about once ayear though.

 

If you have good alaignment on your pulley, and you try the belts that were suggested earlier and you still have the problem, pull the pulley off or your alternator and then remove the fan behind the pulley. Put just the pulley back on, leave off the fan, tighten the nut and run the engine like you previously have. If the belt still comes off....recheck alaignment and concentricity of the pulleys.

If the belt stays put, you will want to go to a larger diameter pulley on your alternator. Sometimes the fins on the alternator fan will actually spring out at high rpms and will pop the belt off. By going to a larger pulley you will help support the fan better and you will also slow the alternator down extending it's life and saving a few horsepower as well.

As for your headers...get 'em coated!!

 

If you have headers and the brackets that are most common to mount the alternator, thats where I would start looking. IMO the brackets are junk and too flimsey to do the job correctly.

 

IF your pullys are aligned and not flexing try a deep groove alternator pully. On the headers, when first installed fire up engine run for 3-5 minutes then let cool, do this 5-6 times and it should cure paint by slowly boiling off the thinners. When you repaint use etching acid to prep metal for paint to grab into metal.

 

Make yourself a pulley guard/keeper or whatever you want to call it.

1/8" aluminum.

Easy with a lathe, just about as easy without one.

If you have the right size hole saw you can rough one out without too much trouble.

If not:
Lay out a circle.
Drill 5/16" or 3/8" hole in the center
Cut the circle out with bandsaw, hacksaw, whatever you have.
Sand to circular shape with sanding disc or belt.


Make yourself a 5/16" or 3/8" headless mandrel by cutting the head off a bolt.

Bolt the disc to the mandrel.
Chuck the mandrel in the drill press.
Use file and sandpaper to finish the edge.
3M cloth on the face, medium works fine.

Drill center hole to alternator stud size.

Pull alternator pulley nut.
Install aluminum piece.
Re-install nut.

There's almost always enough stud sticking out to retain the aluminum piece and most times the edge of the alternator pulley and nut shoulder in the center are the same height.

The 36 holes in the aluminum piece in the pics were done when I was learning how to operate my dividing head.
Woulda looked better with bigger holes and way fewer of them, but it makes no difference.
Few have ever noticed the aluminum piece and fewer still have ever commented on it.

Never lost a belt with one of these.
Up to about 6200 rpm anyway....

 

Thanks guys, The alternator pulleys are aligned correctly, but I think that the placement of the alternator is what is causing the problem, Where its at creates a really long run from the pulley, all the way back to the crank pulley, I am going to try this and see what happens. As for the headers, I did go through the cycle of heating and cooling, as the instructions stated (Yes i read the instructions) and they still did that.