Replacement fan belt for 1956 Tbird

zuburg

zuburg

Senior Member
I just finished mocking up my engine to line up the pulleys. I am using an conversion bracket that utilizes the original generator bracket and includes a thicker pulley for the alternator Sotheby's pulley lines up.

My old fan belt us a true V-shaped belt, but is about 3/4" too small to stretch over the alternator pulley. All the replacement belts are not true V-shaped, but more flat with bumpy ribs. Is it OK to use these new style belts? They are still called V belts but just don't look like a v-belt.

I guess they call anything that is not a serpentine belt a V-belt?
 
That seems to be what you find anymore, unless maybe at an industrial supply house. I've always just made sure the width is right, then the length. In your case, there's some stretch in the belt, so don't go too far oversize, maybe 1". And after a short run in, check it again. Make sure you've got adjustment available. Some cases in the birds you can hit the car before you run out of adjustment on the bracket, so eyeball that before you put the motor in.
 
Get a GATES belt --they are still made like the old school belts -- and the number is the size and length....
For example....
a 7490 GATES belt is 7/16" x 49.0 " ......
this way you can adjust.....
if you need one two inches longer than that, you guessed it ---
it would be a 7510 -- 51"....
and an old school parts store should still have a "Belt Stick" --
where you can measure your old one with certainty rather than with a string...........
 
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