Ever since I finished my 351 swap I've had a problem with belt squeal. I have a new tensioner pulley, new water pump, new smog pump eliminator pulley, new idler pulley, new alternator, and new power steering pump. The first time after the swap, the belt got hot and melted onto the grooves pf my p/s pump as well as my idler pulley. Had to clean that up and replace the idler pulley. After installing a new belt and tensioner pulley. the squealing is still there and this new belt is running and has partially melted onto the p/s pump grooves and the new idler pulley.....what gives???

 

I'd bet the problem stems from the smog pump eliminator pulley. I tried one but it caused problems. I also had to adjust the belt size with it so I'd bet that is causing the melt issue. An overly tight belt will kill things one by one.

Take the smog pump apart and remove the air fins then silicone the inlet and outlet so water can't get in and install it. It makes a great added idler pulley/belt spacer.

 

Unfortunately, I tossed it a while back...I'm going to try to replace the smog pump eliminator pulley with one with a slightly smaller diameter which should give a little slack...

 

 

Yup, I have a wire brush attachment for my drill which should work nicely...

 

 

I've replaced my 130 amp alternator with a 95 amp unit and my belt squeal problem is still there; also, the volt meter reads low and the previous alternators weren't charging the battery. Yesterday I let it idle for 15 mins and the squeal went away and the volt meter was reading toward 18. Is it possible that I have a voltage regulator issue?

 

18 volts is not right !!....should charge 14.3.....maybe a little more right after start-up but will settle to 14+ volts in probably in 2-3 min....
as for the squeal...I remember my 91 5.0 (302) was delivered with a sqealing noise from the belts....it was a very common thing back then ....pulleys were out of alignment (power steering pump pulley if I remember right.....also check your belt tension....if something is making your belts heat & melt you should have an obvious problem...let it run till it starts to get hot...belt will be hot all around but whatever pulley is causing this it should be hotter than all others components... keep us posted plz!!

 

No, my volt meter reads between a low of 8 and a high of 18; add the two and divide by 2 and you get 12, which when the alternator is charging will read slightly higher than the 12 indicated.....all my pulleys are new, belt is new and everything is lined up. When the belt squeals the volt meter reads closer to 8. When the squeal disappears the voltmeter will then read between 12 and 18. Also, if I unplug the alternator harness from the voltage regulator plug the squeal disappears....

 

Maybe a bad alt.. bearing