How To: C15a Wire-3 restoration

[Harry Moon]

don't let coming home on the hook discourage you. I've come home on a hook three times, actually one of those was to the destination where i fixed the contamination. The fan can overpower the belt, 6 blades moving a lot of air and if you are over 30mph we are past it's design speed. I use a 5/8 belt reasonably tight. the belt tension is a regular maintanence check item

[Bruce Parker (RIP)]

Originally Posted by Harry Moon

don't let coming home on the hook discourage you. I've come home on a hook three times, actually one of those was to the destination where i fixed the contamination. The fan can overpower the belt, 6 blades moving a lot of air and if you are over 30mph we are past it's design speed. I use a 5/8 belt reasonably tight. the belt tension is a regular maintanence check item

Back in the day I blew the transmission on my 60cwt Chev Machinery I (the one now at the Oshawa museum) in Arthur. Left it there and drove up the following weekend with a spare transmission. Installed it using my knee as the transmission jack. Got about 200 mosquito bites because both hands and my knee were busy aligning the splines on transmission shaft to the clutch. Drove it back to Scarborough. True story, I have photographs and witnesses.

Fast forward to yesterday.

My wife rented a car (VW Golf) and because of the two driver jockey dance she had me drive it home. Then in the middle of nowhere doing 115km/hr on the 401 bang woppa woppa woppa and a violent pulling to the left narrowly missing a car in the fast lane. Got well off on the shoulder to find the front right tire disintegrated. No problemo...there was a fully inflated donut in the back. Jack there too, but no wheel wrench. So I call the 1-800 'save me' number explaining the problem and my location to two different foreign call centres, and then a third time to the local contracted tow truck service. The tow truck dispatcher informed me I would have to find my own way home from the side of the highway because of covid social distancing rules. So there I am, a grown man broken down on the side of the highway unable to fix a simple flat. No matter, 3 hours later the defective VW was returned to the rental car place and because of all my trouble they upgraded the rental car my wife is now driving in comfort.

[Jordan Baker]

Originally Posted by Harry Moon

don't let coming home on the hook discourage you. I've come home on a hook three times, actually one of those was to the destination where i fixed the contamination. The fan can overpower the belt, 6 blades moving a lot of air and if you are over 30mph we are past it's design speed. I use a 5/8 belt reasonably tight. the belt tension is a regular maintanence check item

No discouragement from me. It’s all part of the joy of vintage vehicles.

How does the fan overpower the belt?

[Harry Moon]

the faster the fan goes the more horsepower it needs to move the increasing amount of air, just like losing tractions when you apply to much horsepower to the tires. more grip helps hence make sure you use 5/8 belts and pulleys. A fan unlike a car doesn't lesson the draw of horsepower when it reaches a certain speed it is uphill so to speak all the way.

[Harry Moon]

I use this belt and always have a spare with me. (I do run an alternator though)

[Lynn Eades]

Jordan, was that a new belt or the one you burnt? Btw, there are better photos of Vicky.
Harry does that belt cross over to a B52? I like those belts as well.

[Jordan Baker]

Vicki too know the picture as she has a great sense of humour. First she thought I was joking about having to shut down. Then when I actually pulled over and turned off the truck she figured I was no longer joking.

I stopped in the other day at Princess Auto to get a replacement belt. I’d read online that the Chevy 216 needed a 42” belt. So I got two. Got home and they are too short. So after dinner I took them back and got three different sized ones. Well they were too long. It turns out I needed a 44” outside length one. Well that turns out to be the only size out of about 1 million sizes Princess Auto doesn’t have. They had B40, B42. So off to the Home Hardware nearby that is unlike city Home Hardwares. They had name brand Dayco B41. Got home and it was a job to get it on but once on it fits great.

So Dayco B41 is what I needed.

The fitting issue I had with it was a sever lack of room and I’ve got the large pulleys on both the water pump and the generator. When I used a size larger belt it slid over the generator pulley but then there wasn’t enough adjustment to tighten the belt.

[chris vickery]

Jordan if it’s any consolation, my first shake down drive in my 12 cab Ford left me stranded with an overheated coil on the dizzy.
Lucky for me I had another at the shop, so it was a case of hitch hiking back to town to retrieve some help and sole tools to do a road side repair.

[David Herbert]

I have found a surprising variation in sizes between different makes of what were supposedly the same standard size belts. I am not talking 1/4" but up to two inches on a long belt when measured very carefully. It seems to be necessary to put a tape measure round a belt that fits properly and record the length, then measure any belt you buy before taking it home.

Wouldn't you think that they would be standardized in the real world rather than fairyland ?

David