Son of a B(*CH!! Vortech owners please come in..

[1993SSP]

Bought a brand new A trim. Installed it per directions. Drove the car 100 miles, checked belt. I had moved forward 1 groove on the supercharger. Checked alignment. Put belt back in place, put the tensioner back to spec, drove the car 40 miles and it did it again! seems do only do it when i mash on it hard. I'm gonna call vortech tommorrow, but I had to vent on here too

 

[tunedin302]

The a trim is no longer made so I'm wondering how you got a brand new one .... Sounds like the mounting plate may be mis aligned or your tensioner is no tight enough. Also, do you have some type of aftermarket balancer that possibly pushes the crank pulley forward?

 

[Michael Yount]

It's clearly a belt/pully alignment issue. Once you get it 'straightened' out, I'd replace the belt. Riding out of/over the edge of the pulley didn't do it any good.

tunedin - it's not uncommon for the 'speed shops' to still have new-old models in stock. I was able to find a brand new set of old-style (won't fit the P-heads) FRPP shorties for my car last year. Shopped around online til I found an outfit that still had a set in stock. They stopped making them several years ago. That's probably where his 'new' A-trim came from. Assuming of course that they really don't make them anymore.

 

[Rick 91GT]

d/p

 

[Rick 91GT]

Just an alignment issue, it is not un common to have to shim the brackets out to get it all aligned properly, every car and block are different.

 

[1993SSP]

I called it an A trim, but its vortech's entry level kit. Rick you saying I may need to shim the main mounting bracket out to fix the problem?? would loosening it and using body shims then tightening it back down do the job or do I need to completely remove it and put washers in for shims?? With a straight edge it may be off just a tad, not much though. Also any pointers on how tight the belt should be???

 

[poneypower89]

I called it an A trim, but its vortech's entry level kit. Rick you saying I may need to shim the main mounting bracket out to fix the problem?? would loosening it and using body shims then tightening it back down do the job or do I need to completely remove it and put washers in for shims?? With a straight edge it may be off just a tad, not much though. Also any pointers on how tight the belt should be???

When i first got my blower installed the car would throw the belt in less than a second of running... it was really freak'n annoying. Anyways, turned out that the stock tensioner pulley had one too many washers in it. (of course, this took a whole lot longer to realize than it should.

Im 100% positive you just have an alignment issue. Read and reread the install instructions and double check every washer location just to make sure you have everything in the right place. If all else fails just try adding and/or deleting washers untill you can get the belt to stay. I know this is really un-efficient, but so is fixing the belt every time u turn the engine.

 

[poneypower89]

btw, the base vortech kit is the sc-trim. Its a blower with the a-trim housing and an s-trim impeller. Vortech hasnt sold or distributed the a-trim for nearly three years now. I really doubt u got a hold of one of those just recently.

If you wanna find out for sure its really easy to spot. Look directly at the blades of ur impeller... if they are perfectly striaght (like a ruler or whatever) then its an a-trim. If it has any bend/curve to the impeller blades at all, its an s-trim. Just FYI if you needed to know.

 

[1993SSP]

hey guys, not got around to fixing the belt problem, looks like it only needs spacet out about 2/16 of and inch, would you trust body shims to space out the entire supercharger bracket??

 

[Rick 91GT]

So you need an 1/8", you could use a good AN washer like Vortech provides.

 

[1993SSP]

I am trying to avoid removing the entire assembly. My other questoin is this, the alternator, main tensioner and smog pulleys line up perfectly, so by moving the entire bracket assembly forward will this not affect the main belt alignment???????

 

[GroverDill]

head pulley isnt on backwards is it?

how tight is the belt?

 

[1993SSP]

If it's on backwards it was done that way from vortech, how can I tell???
How tight does the belt need to be, the manual was kinda vague about that, Ive been tightening it down about as tight as the main belt itself is.

 

[GroverDill]

I tighten the **** outta mine, like super tight.

 

[Rick 91GT]

I am trying to avoid removing the entire assembly. My other questoin is this, the alternator, main tensioner and smog pulleys line up perfectly, so by moving the entire bracket assembly forward will this not affect the main belt alignment???????

If those pulleys line up it most likely is not an bracket alignment issues, you need to find out what is making the effected pulley off and fix it at that point. As far as belt tension goes, Vortech actaully has a spec...lol The tighter you make it the harder it is pulling on the front main bearing, you want it just tight enough that you can not turn/flip the belt when you grab it, but not so tight that it curls while on the car.

 

[tunedin302]

Vortech sent mine with the pulley on backwards. I sent it back to them to change the direction. If you are running a 6rib then you would definately know it though. Here is my 6 rib and the fat part has to go towards the back.

View attachment 488250

 

[1993SSP]

thanks for the pic, I am still drooling!

On the tensioner pulley, how many washers did you have to put under it?? Ive got two on mine and the belt isnt sitting in the middle of the pulley , its more over toward the front of the car

 

[tunedin302]

I believe I only had to use 1 washer on the serpentine belt tensioner mount. You aren't talking about the vortech tensioner are you? I don't believe you should have to use any spacers on that. Do you have that pulley on backwards?? Look at the crank and the vortech headunit pulley ... do they line up (absent the tensioner pulley)?

 

[1993SSP]

Yea, im referring to the vortech tensioner. I had to place 2 washers under it to get it going. Im going out later today to take a real close look at it, but the crank and charger pulley line up good

 

[blackss]

the sc trim..... does it have the typical s/c noise? I know the sq is supposed to be quiet, but what about the sc trim or paxtons novi 1000