Hi All! I have a 97 VT SS and after a bit of machining and adjustment I have had a set of gilmer pulleys fitted..They sound great and look the part...I have however discovered a minor problem!! The pulleys we have here in NZ are for a 308...ya can get em ta fit but the alternator pulley is a larger diameter than a 304's...So the issue is I am not getting a charge at Idle..Does anyone know of anybody doing correct sized alternator gilmer pulley's for 304's in Aus or NZ??? Or am I going to have ta get one manufactured?? I dont want replace the alternator as I just had it rebuilt! Any help would be appreciated!
Not sure my self but couldn't you just try to find one around the same size or slightly smaller than the original one? The smaller the pulley the more it will turn and the more charge it will produce, but too small may shorten the life of the alternator. Nice looking set up though.
Hello After seeing your set up.. Am doing the same too my VT Calais .. Have looked at You're photos looks good Which Parts have you had to get Altered .. I'am looking at getting the Groves for the a/c done onto the bottom crank and How did you set up the power steering Did you get the power steering belt to aline up Ok after Trimming down the Bottom crank .. so after Ive had the alternator Trimmed back by 5m to get the Bolt Back onto the Alternator ok Any help would be Great Thanks Bruce
Smarter idea would be just leave it stock because gilmers are a waste of time but you know logic. Given this thread is 4 years old I would say OP doesn't even post any more. Props for searching though.
I disagree Wraith, Gilmer kit's have their place. V belts are rather out dates and in-efficient when compared to modern micro-V serpentine type drives which fortunately his VT should have. At least with a gilmer belt you have positive drive and your not relying on high friction and the belt been wedged into the pulley to create drive. Unfortunately with most Gilmer kits on the market low alternator rpm at idle leading to poor charging is normal due to the change in pulley sizes. You can't really make the alternator pulley any smaller otherwise you wouldn't get the nut on the shaft after fitting the pulley, however they have reduced the diameter of the crank pulley and the water pump pulley which creates this issue. The best kit on the market is from Die Crest but you will have charging issues with a standard idle rpm diecrest | eBay But they don't have a specific kit for a VT (which is slightly different to VN-VS).
I always have to laugh when people say they sound great....if you can hear it, it's too tight. It's not supposed to whine. That's just a side effect of having it too tight and end up stuffing the alternator and water pump bearings. Never had a charging issue on the VC with the Gilmer drive, maybe the crank pulley was the correct size, it's a bit bigger than the pulley for the V belt.
Ok so let me get this straight. You're taking off the perfectly good 6 rib (sorry, 4 rib) serpentine belt and replacing it with a glimer drive that won't charge at idle. Could you tell me what exactly the benefits are of this expensive outlay? Seems to me like a massive backward step just so you can fap yourself over a lame belt noise? Seriously? You could have saved that money and invested it in a supercharger kit or an L67 or even an LS1.
The 304ci engine belts don't run the serpentine configuration. The do however have two, narrower Multi Rib belts (4 Rib, in V belt configuration), one for the alternator and the other for the A/C They also have one "V" belt for the power steering. All these belts run off the crank. Edit: My A/C belt is missing in the pictures below.
are there any advantages to the flat type belts (dont know what they're called) like the one on your waterpump over the normal V belt like for the power steering?
They are called; Multi Rib or Poly Rib. Poly Rib is the Trade Mark name by; "Dayco", who first developed them. These sites give a good explanation..... Poly-V® Multi Rib Belt | Goodyear® Engineered Products http://www.dayco.com.au/products.aspx?G=910&P=1512
Without reading those sites, and putting it simply, a multi ribbed belt has a larger contact patch with the pulleys so it has a higher friction coefficient so is less prone to slipping.
cheers guys. It just had me wondering why they didn't use one on the power steering pump too though, but I suppose the load probably isn't as great as it would be for the fan belt.
The other advantage of a true serpentine belt set up is the auto tensioner which actually absorbs some of the shock loads rather then the belt slipping which gives increased belt life. V belts are just so bloody outdated as a form of power transmission it's just not funny. I have a real hate for them.
Hello, i have recently installed a gilmer drive to my 304. The power steering pully dose not line up with the pully on the balancer and also it dose not make the supercharger sound i was hoping for. It is a speedmasters kit. Please help
It's fairly normal to have to space out the power steering pump when fitting these style of kits unfortunately. If you want it to whine, tighten the **** out of the belt but beware that it will cause damage to waterpump and alternator bearings which could lead to drastic failure at high rpms.....
