My brother wants to race beltless, possible?
03-20-2009, 12:07 PM
#1
My brother wants to race beltless, possible? My brother and I will be running a bunch of tests in the next few weeks. We will be recording the races as well. Basically we will be doing stuff like doing a roll race from 25mph - about 100mph, then do the same race, but with his CAI taped off to see how much of a difference it makes, stuff like that.
When we came across an article here on LS1 tech about a group of people gaining more acceleration in a nissan sentra by taking the belt off that went to the alternator he became intrigued. I thought you couldn't drive without the alternator charging the battery, but the guys in the article said the battery by itself has more than enough power to supply the engine if you're just doing a few races down the track.
So my brother says, "well, why don't we run a test where we race, and then I take off all the belts on my car and run beltless?" I told him that might work if he had an electric water pump, but he doesn't. He thinks that one run from 25mph-100mph without the water pump running isn't gonna hurt his car if right after the run he quickly pulls over and puts the belt back on. Is he gonna end up screwing up his car? He even suggested racing without a belt a little before the car gets to its 210 degree regular operating temperature to give it even a bigger margin for it not getting too hot.
When we came across an article here on LS1 tech about a group of people gaining more acceleration in a nissan sentra by taking the belt off that went to the alternator he became intrigued. I thought you couldn't drive without the alternator charging the battery, but the guys in the article said the battery by itself has more than enough power to supply the engine if you're just doing a few races down the track.
So my brother says, "well, why don't we run a test where we race, and then I take off all the belts on my car and run beltless?" I told him that might work if he had an electric water pump, but he doesn't. He thinks that one run from 25mph-100mph without the water pump running isn't gonna hurt his car if right after the run he quickly pulls over and puts the belt back on. Is he gonna end up screwing up his car? He even suggested racing without a belt a little before the car gets to its 210 degree regular operating temperature to give it even a bigger margin for it not getting too hot.
03-20-2009, 12:16 PM
#3
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the only belt 'modification' i can think of was running a smaller belt that would only reach around the required pulleys. The thought is that it decreases parasitic loss on the engine...
03-20-2009, 12:25 PM
#5
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found these two links in the Racing Tech section..
https://ls1tech.com/forums/drag-raci...t-removal.html
https://ls1tech.com/forums/drag-raci...s-removal.html
https://ls1tech.com/forums/drag-raci...t-removal.html
https://ls1tech.com/forums/drag-raci...s-removal.html
03-20-2009, 12:30 PM
#6
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If you have an electric water pump, you can run w/o a belt for a pass or two down the 1/4 mile. Since the Water pump is not relying on the belt anyway, your car will continue to pump coolant and not overhear, however, it will kill the battery very quickly.
Running no belt has been proven to help 1/4mile performance, but it will not last long driving down the road. The battery dies very quickly.
Running no belt has been proven to help 1/4mile performance, but it will not last long driving down the road. The battery dies very quickly.
03-20-2009, 12:47 PM
#7
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Boom I would think running without a water pump belt would allow the coolant in the heads to boil quickly, and then you would have warpage and damage. running from cold is no better because an engine not up to operating temp run hard can cause scoring of piston sleeves as things expand at different rates.
I think you should just NOT do it.
I think you should just NOT do it.
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03-20-2009, 02:14 PM
#9
That's not a good idea at all. In theory, he would have to at least run a short belt around the crank and water pump to make it a safe run, but due to improper belt routing the water pump would be running backwards so that won't even work. For all legitimate purposes, it would have to go around the alternator and the far passenger side idler to make the routing possible to turn it the right way, and at that point you are only not using the power steering pump.
I guess my summary would be that totally beltless is not safe nor advisable, and to make it safe, it makes it not worth the trouble. Not to mention, I would hate for his pants to fall down from running beltless.
I guess my summary would be that totally beltless is not safe nor advisable, and to make it safe, it makes it not worth the trouble. Not to mention, I would hate for his pants to fall down from running beltless.
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03-21-2009, 12:13 AM
#15
yeah im gonna have to agree with everyone here...this is a very bad idea. when you race your car your engine is producing an extreme amount of heat and the water pump has to be running to keep the engine from overheating and eventually grenading. besides, the amount of power you would gain from taking the belt off would be negligible.
definately NOT worth it in my opinion.
definately NOT worth it in my opinion.
I don't really see the point. 
