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Jesel Belt Drive Distributor Issue

8K views 23 replies 6 participants last post by  CutlassRacer 
#1 ·
I am helping a guy setup a front drive distributor on his raised cam SBC. The issue is that the belt is too long and when I called Jesel they first told me that I needed a different bracket for the raised cam, but that the bracket was even shorter, which is the opposite of what I need. I measured the center of the pulleys and come up with 7.375" and a pulley diameter of 1.475, telling me that I need a 19.345" belt to get this thing to work, but I am unsure on the pitch of the belt teeth. The part number on the belt is not legible so I am kinda lost. Anybody have any suggestions?
 
#3 ·
Hhmmm, well I guess I can try and call a Gates dealer and get this figured out. I looked at a Jesel belt drive setup and noticed that there are extra holes to mount the belt driver distributor setup up above where the timing cover housing bolts to the block. With the Comp Cams belt drive, the distributor drive has to bolt to the same holes that mounts the housing to the block.
 
#4 ·
Oh, I was able to read the part number off of the belt, just had to clean it up a little. This is the part number: Gates powergrip htd 5133M06 3223MC
 
#6 ·
Why do you say the belt is too long? The reason I asked is because I had the same deal on my standard cam Little M block and moved it to a raised cam block with the new bracket and I always thought there was too much slack in the distributor belt but it has worked fine for 2 years.
 
#7 ·
Its too long because you can spin the rotor in the distributor without the engine turning over.
 
#8 ·
Yikes. That is long. They told me there was only 1 length but they would measure some to see if there were small tolerance issues and they could send me some longer ones.
 
#9 ·
Here is a picture of the CV setup:


And a picture of the Jesel setup:


If you look at the top four bolts on the Jesel setup, you can see that they are raised up to clear the .391" raised cam position of this setup. The way I see it, it "should" require a standard height Jesel bracket/belt setup, but supposedly that is what I have and it leaves the belt so long that you can pinch it together between the pulleys with little effort. So far I have not found anyone on the phone who has been any help at all, but maybe things will go better today!
 
#10 ·
With the CV product you need to use a motorplate to bolt the bracket for the distributor to. The cam itself is raised in the bore but the timing cover is in the same place on both a normal block and raised cam block so the holes in the top to mount the cover to the block are in the same spot. I forget but I do have both brackets at the house but I think the major difference is the bolt hole location in the bracket has been made wider since the ears aren't directly over the holes in the block. If you go on MSDs website I believe they give you a spec for belt tension and I think it is like 3/4" between the sides of the belt when you pinch it together with light pressure. I bet mine is about a 1/2" and the rotor will spin on the belt if turned by hand and you try to but it takes very little effort to turn the rotor by the motor and if that belt was too tight it would snap. Like I said mine is loose and it has seen a hundred or so street miles and a bunch of passes in the last couple of years without an issue. I hope you get it figured out.
 
#11 ·
Man I did not even think of doing that! Thanks for the Idea! Talk about a "DUH moment"!

I looked at a Jesel mount for the raised cam setup and there were two sets of holes at the top of the housing that mounts to the block. The bottom set bolts to the block and the top set is threaded so that you can bolt the belt drive to it. The CV setup looks like it uses smaller pulleys to keep them inside of the stock timing cover bolt pattern with the raised cam deal.

Thanks again for the help! That sure saves alot of hassle!
 
#12 ·
I think the CV picture is a stock type of picture. If you click between their belt drives all the pictures are the same with the similar raised/non-raised pictures. I think that picture is misleading you. The jesel also uses resessed allen bolts in the top so they don't hit their pulley for mounting to the block. If you search Chris U's forum on here for CV vs. Jesel in the title you will see a post I started a little under a year ago and Chris helped me understand some of this stuff.
 
#13 ·
Yeah I realize that might be a picture of a different piece, but it looks exactly like the one I have here. There are no recessed holes on the CV piece that go behind the top pulley, the pulley actually fits inside the stock timing cover bolt pattern, which is what lead me to believe that the pulleys in a CV products setup might be a little smaller than the jesel, which covers the top 4 bolts. The top pulley diameter on the CV is 4.750" to the peak of the cog teeth on opposite sides just for reference.

Mounting the distributor to the motorplate solves all of the problems anyways, my friend just bought a few extra parts that he didnt need trying to figure it out himself.
 
#14 ·
I don't think the pulley could be smaller. How could it unless the crank pulley was smaller because that would throw off the cam to crank sync and timing ratio?
 
#15 ·
Yeah they would both have to be smaller, or the CV uses smaller pulleys than jesel overall. That is the only thing that makes sense to me since the jesel covers the top housing bolts at the CV does not on the raised cam setups.
 
#16 ·
the "front cover" is NOT the same on a standard height block in comparison to a raided cam block.

the jessel picture is of a raised cam front cover since you can see the actual front thrust cover HOLES in BEHIND the belt.
the four TOP located bolt holes that are seen in photo are to mount the front belt backing plate of distributor.

the danny bee built / comp cams sold plate is similar

the pictured CV drive COULD BE for a standard height or a raised height cam but I am unaware that they sell on for a "belt drive distributor" thus, no added four upper holes.

if you have a CV front drive, and a jesell or msd distributor hub.....
you better make certain that the left hand thread drive bolt and "stub hub" to drive the pulley is a proper "fit"..
these are two different makers / marketeers and neither were ever thought of mix and match any of their parts.

back side alignment could be different too.

as stated, it all could be bolted on to a front motorplate, but as seen, this will add even more to the offset and non alignment of the pulleys.
 
#17 ·
CV's website stated that their belt drives were "compatible with all belt drive distributors" on one page that I found. I talked to one of their techs, who promised me that the tech that "really knew what he was talking about and has the most experience with the belt drive stuff" would call me back in a couple of hours tops. Well, that was over 48 hours ago. This thing came from the engine shop like this, and I have been trying to help my friend get it fixed. The alignment on everything looked good during initial mock up, but I have not relocated the distributor mount to the motor plate just yet. Luckily, the motor plate appears to be the same thickness as the top of the cam belt drive housing, but I will be sure and double check this before I trust it!
 
#18 ·
My motor plate when bolted up was almost perfectly lined up with my Jesel housing. I had to notch it though to clear all the bosses on top of their housing. I have had no fitment issues when I used the Jesel "gear" for the belt when I had a Comp belt drive even though no one would tell me if it worked or not. Not saying CV will be the same though.
 
#19 ·
Mounting it to the motor plate is going to work out perfectly. I double checked the pulleys and they are the same pitch/depth as the belt so I just have to raise the mounting holes. Thanks Again MrHockey!!
 
#22 ·
im looking for a jesel belt drive full kit for a 391 raised cam sbc trying to find one used
if anyone could help i would be greatful.
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