ta jesel or not ta jesel???

Building a blown 540 and dropped the block off last weekend one of the things i hadnt decided on was using a roller chain or a jesel belt drive. My motor shop guy told me i have a week or 2 ta decide since the crank and rods are still on order so he wont need a deff. answer till he gets to that point but i told him i will probaly go with the jesel drive.

the price difference is about $400 give or take a few $$$ but from what he said the jesel is far better for this type of motor.

I have never had anything except for a timing chain(never even had a gear drive) so i admit i dont have any "real knoledge" of a jesel belt drive so am i "right" by saying i want it? I know it supposedly wont transmit any harmonics like a chain will but are there any other benifits? or for that matter any drawbacks?

The only reason to have a Jesel is if you want to be able to adjust your timing without removing the timing cover.

never have run one, Goat. I use a gear drive on most everything I build. What do they say on longevity of the unit for street use?? I guess I would be nervous of losing a belt and gernading the motor when the valves start thunkin the pistons.. Like I say, have never used one, but not sure I would want one on the street. Maybe we can both get educated on them threw your thread???

Far as losin a belt i did think to ask him that and he said he's never heard of a problem with it but i will be going back down to the shop next weekend and i'll find out some more then.

I think one of my other concerns with a jesel setup is the fact that its basicly "open" so even though this car is in reallity only gonna see less than 20 street miles a week i'm wondering about the "exposed" belt with road debris and such. Deffenitly will have some questions for him when i go back down there.

I was told a belt drive is very reliable. Have a friend with a small block S-10 on the the bottle. I always thought they'd stretch, but he sez. not so.
I'm leanin' toward belt unless there's a real downside. Mines not gonna be a daily driver just sunny afernoons, so I'm thinkin' it will be O.K.? BlownGoat yours looks like a fair weather cruiser too?
I also thought gear drives set up a harmonic thang' in the engine, but Dave sez' he's had good luck with em. So maybe somebody out there has the answer.

Do they make any kind of guard or could one be fabbed? Or maybe that just makes another place for stuff to get caught in?

Yupp pro mines just gonna be a sunny saterday up ta the cruise night type driver also. far as fabbin a cover i thought of that also but 2 things kinda got me ta thinkin about not doin that.

1.what you said,stuff gettin trapped in it
2.would be in the way for fast adjustments

i'm kinda leanin towards the jesel but like everything else i'm tryin to find out as much as i can before plunkin down the $$ for somethin i might not like.

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Originally posted by BlownGoat
Yupp pro mines just gonna be a sunny saterday up ta the cruise night type driver also. far as fabbin a cover i thought of that also but 2 things kinda got me ta thinkin about not doin that.

1.what you said,stuff gettin trapped in it
2.would be in the way for fast adjustments

i'm kinda leanin towards the jesel but like everything else i'm tryin to find out as much as i can before plunkin down the $$ for somethin i might not like.

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Serpentine belts seem to hold up prudy' good and that's basically what the Jessel iz'. The Jessel looks cool too, for cruisin'

Most new cars have timing belts. They have a service interval of 70k-120k on most cars. They aren't like a serpentine belt, they have teeth on them. Wouldn't want your timing belt to slip, would you?

The serpentine belt has teeth on the pulley side with matching teeth in the pulley. Spring loaded idler or tensioner. I have the same type belts on my plotters, CNC router, Large format printer, etc. When I buy a belt for them they call em' serpentine belts? Am I misguided?:CRY:

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Originally posted by techinspector1
In my neck of the woods, toothed belts have always been called Gilmer belts. Serpentine belts are a series of narrow little v-belts all built into one.

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Gatcha ~!~ "Got Grooves".... not teeth

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Originally posted by Streets


I run a noisey geardrive in most ALL the motors I build for the street.. and ALL my blowers run Gilmer "Flat tooth'd" belts also, other wise their would be no Blower "Whine" produced... :LOL:..

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Have ya run a jessel on the street? What's the down side other than price. Harmonic balancer should protect it from most big chunks of foriegn matter shouldn't i? It's one of those questions ya jus' can't ask the salesman. Tend to get bias answers, or maybe I'm jus' tooo skepicale'

Never had the "belt", so I can't say much about it. I think I'd stick with a gear drive for your application. They sound kool & are bullet proof.

i have a 540 in my race car with a jesel belt drive , timing factor, cam bounce is less on a big stick w a belt , works like a dampner ,
that is what a good friend who worked at comp cams told me . aka a blower does not need a harmonic ballancer , because of the blower belt .