Hey guys....I am trying to figure out how to tighten my fan belt. I hear a squeaking noise when I give it gas which goes away when i let off the gas...also...wd40 makes it go away completely for a few min....thats why I think its the belt. It still looks to be on good shape. I have my overhaul manual on the way but this weekend is supposed to be really nice and I'd rather not drive around squealing everywhere. Thanks for any help.
Assuming that you have the flathead in it you loosen the bolt (s) or nut under the generator (that's the thing up on top between the radiator hoses) and move the generator up enough to take the slack out of the belt and tighten the bolts back up. I went out and looked at my flathead and there should be two belts. One for the waterpumps and fan and one for the generator. It's been 51 years since I last drove the 51 Merc I had with a flathead in it so I am not totally up on the exact ins an outs of adjusting the belts.
The '50-'53 Fords and Mercs have two 3/8" belts. The forward belt runs the fan and passenger side water pump, and the rear belt runs the generator and left pump. The fan is attached to a U shaped bracket that bolts to the generator bracket. Adjust the fan by loosening the two fan bracket bolts, lift up on the fan assembly and then tighten the bolts. To adjust the generator, loosen the fan bracket bolts, then loosen the single large generator-to-intake bracket nut, adjust the generator and tighten the large nut, then readjust and tighten the two fan assembly bolts. Probably sounds complicated, but if you study the front of the engine, it will (should) make sense.
You can see the brackets and bolt heads in this shot of my flathead just after we pulled it out of the donor Jeep wagon it was in. I'm still not sure where the generator bracket is after I went out and looked at the engine to take a couple of photos this afternoon.
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