Squealing belts

If possible I would get a very nice car cover that is waterproof or very heavily water resistant. If this is only happening when water gets in the engine bay, that should greatly help if not eliminate the problem.

 

That's not good for the belts. Your gonna glaze them and have to have them replaced.
Why not just tighted them?

 

The earlier single belt design is borderline adequate anyway, even without getting it wet. The single 7mm alternator/water pump belt was later upgraded to two belts, a 7mm belt for the water pump and a 13mm belt for the alternator. A service bulletin was issued dated 12/29/84 which details a kit to upgrade the earlier cars which were having problems.

I'm in the process of upgrading my Mondial right now. T-Rutlands have found the waterpump belt tensioner, the alternator bracket, and the belts for me, but I'm still trying to find a 13mm alternator pullley. I don't need the crank pulley because of another project I've got underway... I'm adding a supercharger to fix the horsepower problem. Grin! "mke" has been a bad influence on me!
Thor
www.JavelinArt.com

 

My 83 308 GTS belts squeeked too. Just before the belts burned up. I had the w/p changed the first time as I thought it was the culprit. It looked fine but just in case it was changed. The next time I just changed the belts, myself. The few other times the car overheated it was the cap that was loose or the last time the heater hose blew( at the engine clamp) Now with all new hoses front to back and a flushed system and a 1.1bar cap I have my fingers crossed that no more overheating.

If I hear squeeling belts I will not ignore them and I will limp home if close or tighten them on the spot!! I can only handle burnt belts so many times.

Viel Gluck,

Philip Z

 

I had a similar problem on a different car and it turned out that the parts store had given me the wrong belt! Just something to check.

 

After this happened to me again...grrr! I want to check the tension properly. I bought the KR-2 guage but settings and location prevent proper tension checking. Maybe a fish scale with the manual tension check method would be better.

But if this happens again, away from home, does belt dressing work? At the Napa store today I was told to skip the belt dressings available and use Door Lube. A stick applied lube. Seems counter productive (lube) on belt but the tech was adamant that it works.

Second option is the upgrade to two belts and $$$$ I'm sure.

Philip

 

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Gave my car it's first bath the other day and afterwards the belts squeeled for about 30 seconds, then stopped. As far as I know, no big deal....

 

Belt dressing will help, but once they slip awhile they are glazed...

Also pay attention to the pulley surfaces, knock the glaze off them with some sandpaper........

And I'd tighten them slightly......

 

Many single belt 308's have been doing this since they were new. Not all have this problem and there seems to be no rhyme or reason as to which cars will be affected in this way. A tech bulletin was issued to the dealers in 12/83 addressing this problem and Ferrari provided a kit to update any car doing it to a two belt set up. I have one of the cars with the problem. I lost about 5 belts in 8 years which is absolutely unacceptable. Brian at T Rutlands was a tremendous (and I really mean tremendous) help. He was able to put together a kit for my car. It took about 2 months to source all the parts since they are no longer available from Ferrari but Brian found everything all the way down to every last washer. We even had to search out a parts car out in California for some of the items but we got it all. It's on and so far - 12 months total - it has stayed together.

One tip: forget trying to find the belt cover. It would not go on my car at all. It's cute and everything but if it won't fit it won't fit so just save the cost of it and move on.

 

An update on the 308 belt woes. I found the KR-2 Tensionometer at Napa. However to test the WP/Alt belt it needs to be 84-99 lbs at the "A" arrow in the photo in the owners manual. The guage starts at 100. Close enough probably but that doesn't solve getting the guage in the right position. Impossible, at least with this belt and location. I need a fish scale that is accurate at 6lbs that I can simply hook the belt and pull down.

Anyone else have a better idea on the tension needed and how best to verify it. I am almost at the end of adjustment with the alt and it seems if we measure distance from the end of adjustment to the nut will simplify this quest for proper tension for many. All we need is someone with an engine out to measure this distance when the belt is up to spec tension. Any takers?

Philip

 

Hi,

I lived in Montreux for a couple of years back in the 90's... seems to me that I remember there being an exotic / Ferrari dealer outside Geneva right on the lake...close to Yens or Mourge.... I would think they can get you the dressing you need... I think its George is the tech. ... very nice guys!

 

I just had my 2-belt system upgraded to a 3-belt system, which I should get back tomorrow from the shop. I had a hell of a time finding a 3-belt crank pulley, and I ended up fabricating a tensioner bracket for the alternator, since I have a CNC plasma cutter in my shop and I was tired of trying to find rare pricey parts.

Now my second radiator fan and engine oil radiator fan drawing extra amperage won't be a problem. The tiny 7mm belt just wasn't designed to handle the additional torque/amperage my larger alternator is putting out.

 

Only other thing I didn't notice mentioned is a coolant leak. A small leak from the hose at the thermostat drops guess where? And then it squeals.

Seamus

 

At Watkins Glen last weekend, in the rain, my Mondial 8 alternator/water pump belt (brand new 250 miles ago) started squealing. I have experienced this on many cars before; the solution has always been to let it go and the engine heat will dry it out. Not so with this car. The belt melted into a stringy mess. Never saw this happen before. Obviously an inadequate design. Is there anything new in the world of upgrades? Toothed belts and pulleys?

 

No doubt that it is an aggresive design without a lot of margin -- but on the plus side, it has less HP loss that the usual set-up. Are you sure that your WP and alternator are turning freely/easily?

 

Interesting discussion here. I see that Nick's new design WP has a detatchable pulley so that would mean you could go with different pulley designs and thickness. Also a few years back I saw a 308 track car with a tooth belt set up . This was a Gulf car and I didn't get a chance to ask the owner where he got the setup. So he ran a toothed belt that went from the crank to the WP. It was about 1 " thick. Also the pulley design was done so the adjustment was done in the pulley. I've done some internet searches but have not found anything that looks adaptable. Anyone in the rase crowd found this type of stuff?

 

The Buddy Christ! I love it. Been threatening to mount one on my dash for years! Nice job PAP!

Sorry for the hi-jack. As you were....

 

Yes, I was very surprised to find that the wp and alt turn very freely. I thought for sure that I would find the alt seized. But no, it appearantly was just a loose belt. As I said, though, I have never seen this happen on any other car, so I will be forever uncomfortable with this setup. What did Ferrari do on later model Mondials/308's, and could a newer setup be transferred to an '81?

 

I think a toothed belt set-up (possible even w/ a tensioner) would be a no-brainer seller if someone could come up with the desgin.

 

maybe timing belts for a small japanese engine. you could adapt the engine pulleys.

 

It happens. The only "fix" that I have EVER heard of is the 2 belt setup that I mentioned earlier in this thread. And, like I said before the fix was a factory recommendation because they saw this problem as far back as 83. I was lucky in that somehow found all the correct parts last year to do the conversion. Thor did what I did with a little different twist too. Mine was finished over a year and a half ago. So far no more problems.

I feel your pain having walked the walk (literally) several times myself.