Following up on my first post here, https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/help-changing-v-belt.1084799/#post-12294922 I removed the water pump pulley, cleaned everything up and installed the rebuilt alternator. I went to NAPA and bought two new belts, a xl 7300 for the water pump and a larger one for the alternator. The NAPA belts are made by gates, which is what I already had on the car. I slid the belt on the water pump pulley and was surprised how easily it fit back on the water pump. Here’s the problem- the NAPA belts are longer than the original ones. The new water pump belt has about 3/4” of play. There is no tensioner. I returned the belt and got another identical one, same result. The alternator belt is also longer. Anyone know why they wouldn’t be the same size? The next smallest belt is 1/2” shorter, and I’m not sure I can get it to fit. If I order a gates branded belt, would it be any different than the Napa one made by gates? Thank you.
I don’t know, but I had the same thing happen recently, part numbers all matched but all three belts from NAPA were too large. I had to take the old one in to be measured, I left with a one size smaller belt that fit fine.
The store should have a belt gauge hanging on a peg somewhere. That will measure your old one and match it to the new one.
Hi, we did that, and on the gauge they were identical. I think the difference is the Napa belt is wider. I went ahead and ordered two gates belts, hopefully they will be the same.
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