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Whipple belt chirp

Kyle0995

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So I've had the whipple on for about a month now. Love it!! I'm so happy I went with this setup. The only issue I'm having is that after about a week my belt starts chirping when it's cold. I have my tensioner set at the middle of its throw. I've gone through 4 belts so far no other issues other than that. I'm in contact with whipple right now I was just curious if anyone else has had the issue and if so what was the fix?? Thanks
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Do you have to shim the pulley on a Whipple? If so, may not be properly.
 

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Kyle,
I had the same issue as well and still on the original belt from whipple. I'm guessing you have the six rib setup as that is all I can comment on. This issue isn't uncommon and there has been some that have just reversed the belt with success or bought the Gates green belt that has also proven success. The superchar cricket showed up in my setup around a month after my install but went away on its own without me doing anything after another month or so. Mine also didn't happen all the time. My belt doesn't walk at all and I know I installed everything correctly.
Try reversing the belt first since it's the cheapest attempt at change. I hope my chirp doesn't come back but I've honestly forgotten about it until you posted this.
 
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Kyle0995

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Do you have to shim the pulley on a Whipple? If so, may not be properly.
I'm not sure but I didn't use one. My belt was walking back towards the engine before I gave the tensioner a bit more tension so a shim would have made that worse.
 
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Kyle0995

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Kyle,
I had the same issue as well and still on the original belt from whipple. I'm guessing you have the six rib setup as that is all I can comment on. This issue isn't uncommon and there has been some that have just reversed the belt with success or bought the Gates green belt that has also proven success. The superchar cricket showed up in my setup around a month after my install but went away on its own without me doing anything after another month or so. Mine also didn't happen all the time. My belt doesn't walk at all and I know I installed everything correctly.
Try reversing the belt first since it's the cheapest attempt at change. I hope my chirp doesn't come back but I've honestly forgotten about it until you posted this.
Yes I have a six rib setup I'm thinking about getting a green belt but want to make sure everything is right before I spend that much on a belt. As it is now I'm spending 40.00 a pop the the regular gates belts and I've purchased 3 on my own. Just weird how it only does it when it's cold. My belt doesn't walk anymore and I've rotated every belt that has gone bad and it doesn't fix anything.
 

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Same problem here. Love the Whipple but this chirp is driving me crazy. Whipple has been great to work with. They have sent me another belt, another set of bracket stands, 2 pulleys and I believe I was the first to use and post on here the Green belt. I have 4,500 miles with SC and I am now on 3rd belt. Stock, a Duralast and the shorter Green belt, all have chirped, been turned and then started chirping again. I believe the only way to stop mine is to install new bracket system and or tensioner, Whipple has not offered that yet :(

My last car had a SC also and I had over 20,000 miles on it with original belt, never chirped or slipped and the setup didn't look as good as Whipple's does. Something just isn't lining up here??
 

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I have the same problem. I replaced the belt with the autozone one and it was quiet for a little while but it is back to chirping. My tensioner stand is the revised version that doesn't have the pressed in legs so I don't know what can be causing it. Kind of embarrassing having that much money in my car and sounding like a beater.
 

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I have the same problem. I replaced the belt with the autozone one and it was quiet for a little while but it is back to chirping. My tensioner stand is the revised version that doesn't have the pressed in legs so I don't know what can be causing it. Kind of embarrassing having that much money in my car and sounding like a beater.
Yes I had the pressed in legs, then I upgraded to the loose fitting legs. I believe they thought this was going to correct the problems but mine seems to have gotten worse. I wonder if the holes are not machined to the correct depth on my bracket or do I have a bad tensioner? Agreed this chirp is ghetto on an otherwise nice car :(
 

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If someone still has a noise after updating the stands. There are a few possible issues. First, over torquing idler pulleys can be a problem. I would recommend loosening each idler and take the torque level down roughly 5-10%. I would also check alternator alignment.

The noise comes from the edge of the belt touching a guard. Most common culprit is the water pump pulley. But once an edge of the belt is damaged, it's most likely going to make the noise unless flipped or replaced. It's not damaged in the level of failure, it's damaged in the that the edge is scarred with an extra burr or something hanging off, when it goes by a "guard" on a pulley, it makes that noise.

You do not need to shim the SC or idlers. In fact, please, do not DO THIS. This will only cause issues.
 
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Kyle0995

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Yeah if I let the car idle for about 20 minutes then go driving it doesn't chirp at all but when it's cold it reminds me of an old Honda that needs a new belt and gets me pretty embarrassed lol. I will loosen and re torque all the idlers and check alternator alignment then try another belt to see if it fixes the issue. It's really the only issue I have so I can't complain but after a night at the track and my car has time to cool down and I start it to leave and sound like that Honda again its not good lol.
 

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Yeah if I let the car idle for about 20 minutes then go driving it doesn't chirp at all but when it's cold it reminds me of an old Honda that needs a new belt and gets me pretty embarrassed lol. I will loosen and re torque all the idlers and check alternator alignment then try another belt to see if it fixes the issue. It's really the only issue I have so I can't complain but after a night at the track and my car has time to cool down and I start it to leave and sound like that Honda again its not good lol.
Pretty confident it has to do with actual belt temp. The hotter belt is softer.
 
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Kyle0995

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Pretty confident it has to do with actual belt temp. The hotter belt is softer.
When I replace it with a brand new belt it doesn't chirp at all for about a week or so. So something has to be misaligned right?
 

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Same effing problem here. On 5th belt in 4000 miles and my car sounds like a POS hooptie cold.
Installed new standoffs for idler plate per Whipple but didnt change anything.

Also have belt slip screech on lift throttle at high rpm, but thats not as embarrasing.

Dustin, we love you, but there is a design or install procedure issue here.

My kit was received in December so original plate and standoffs were built before then. I received new standoffs and used them w old plate and still had problem so suspect either bent plate or design issue or need new install procedure.
 
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Whipple SC

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When I replace it with a brand new belt it doesn't chirp at all for about a week or so. So something has to be misaligned right?
Misaligned our out of round. You can use a squirt bottle, spray water on the belt in certain areas to help isolate where the water is coming from. Note it can only be a grooved pulley or idler with a guard that makes the noise, but a smooth idler or pulley could be the source of wobble, etc.
 

sigintel

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Dustin,
The idler plate registers or locates in relation to the crank(and crank pulley) by mounting on the water pump and timing cover as well as the head unit.
The head unit can be moved slightly fore/aft and side to side as well as rotate or cock left right if the bolts are loose.
The timing cover and water pump surfaces are un machined exterior casting surfaces so they are going to vary.
Thus, you can easily have some misalignment even if the Whipple parts are all perfect.

There could be a procedure to loosen everything up and correct alignment. Worst case standoffs are ground or thin washers added. The timing cover/water pump casting surfaces are unmachined surfaces and will vary several thousandths or more with casting variances. Only the surfaces that were ground in production can really be relied on to be perfectly in plane and tangential 90 degrees.

I suspect that my idler plate is slightly bent as I can see that it flexs when trying to tighten everything to spec.

I strongly suspect the issue is in head unit alignment relative to the crank. The alternator, water pump and ac pulleys are perfectly aligned factory. My 15 yr old nephew stole a shorter belt off a hay bailer to jury rig a complete bypass of the head unit and chirp was gone(but no SC turning lol). I told him he could do burn outs if he fixed the chirp without losing a hand. He wanted to try loosening everything and then start engine cold and try torquing idler plate in different orders until chirp was gone. .. With belt running.
No freakn way...lol

Heres a concept in an example procedure pulled out of my arse to try n help all:
1.Remove idler plate to check if square/bent all axis. Replace if feeler guage can slip under staight edge.
2. Loosen manifold to block and head unit to manifold(IC) bolts just enough to be able to shift jack shaft/head unit in relation to block and be able to laser align SC pulley to crank pulley. Might be best to remove water pulley to get a clean shot.
3. Lightly snug head unit and manifold and recheck alignment.
4. Re attach water pump pulley and check it vs SC and crank. Split any difference between crank and WP with SC being in between plane wise if any difference.
5. Torque head unit fully and recheck alignment.
6. Bolt flat idler plate to SC only so its located in plane by head unit lip with theaded hole. ( big bolt on top of idler plate).
7. Align tensioner with plate floating on top SC bolt.
8. Grind standoffs or add washers to get timing cover and water pump properly torqued down without tweaking plate alignment. This might be most of the work.
9. Etc etc...

Again, a procedure might be all we need.
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