Author Topic: Sepentine belt setup  (Read 1251 times)

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Urgefor

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Re: Sepentine belt setup
« Reply #1 on: June 23, 2023, 07:56:28 PM »
I got off lucky and only have to deal with driving an alternator and water pump.  Fairly straight forward to modify the stock bracket to bolt on a tensioner.  I don't recall the exact prices of the pulleys for the water pump and crank, but purchasing those and the tensioner was maybe $300 or so.

fairlaniac

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Re: Sepentine belt setup
« Reply #2 on: June 24, 2023, 07:18:07 AM »
I got off lucky and only have to deal with driving an alternator and water pump.  Fairly straight forward to modify the stock bracket to bolt on a tensioner.  I don't recall the exact prices of the pulleys for the water pump and crank, but purchasing those and the tensioner was maybe $300 or so.
I'd like to know more about the parts you've used? I'd like to go serpentine and I only have a water pump and alternator.

Thanks,
Doug Bender
1966 Fairlane 427+/5 Spd TKX
1978 F150 2WD 390

Urgefor

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Re: Sepentine belt setup
« Reply #3 on: June 24, 2023, 11:27:52 AM »
I'll see if I can dig up the info.  I'm a bit busy this weekend, but should be able to report back with something this coming week. The only thing I wasn't terribly happy with was not being able to find a water pump pulley that wasn't a smaller diameter than the OE pulley, so the water pump wound up being over driven compared to stock.

fairlaniac

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Re: Sepentine belt setup
« Reply #4 on: June 24, 2023, 05:16:12 PM »
I'll see if I can dig up the info.  I'm a bit busy this weekend, but should be able to report back with something this coming week. The only thing I wasn't terribly happy with was not being able to find a water pump pulley that wasn't a smaller diameter than the OE pulley, so the water pump wound up being over driven compared to stock.

No hurry, thank you!
Doug Bender
1966 Fairlane 427+/5 Spd TKX
1978 F150 2WD 390

Urgefor

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Re: Sepentine belt setup
« Reply #5 on: June 25, 2023, 06:54:54 PM »
Fortunately, I had saved the info about the parts I used in a text file on my PC along with some notes about the belt I used as well.  8)  I consider my setup to still be in the "proof of concept" stage since I haven't made proper spacers and IMHO the position of the tensioner could be improved slightly.  With that being said, I have had no issues with the belt's behavior. The engine has been revved to 5k rpm and the tensioner does an excellent job of taking up the slack when rpms increase.

Parts summary:
Belt Length: 43 1/8" (alternator adjusted 1/2 way),  44 1/8 (alternator adjusted fully)
Dayco Belt Part #s: 5060431 (alternator adjusted 1/2 way), 5060440 (alternator adjusted fully)
Gates HD Belt Part #: K060450HD (alternator adjusted fully using spring tensioner)
Serpentine Belt Tensioner: Gates 38189
March Performance Crankshaft Pulleys 1966-A (Summit Racing: MCH-1966-A)
March Performance Water Pump Pulleys 1967-A (Summit Racing: MCH-1967A)

Additional info about the conversion from memory:

I initially thought about not using a spring tensioner, hence the two different Dayco belt numbers.  I abandoned that idea after seeing how the belt behaved while revving the engine.

The water pump pulley is undersized, so the water pump will run about 1.5 times faster than the crankshaft.  I talked with March Performance about an OE sized pulley, but they don't make one. I put a small amount of effort into finding a pulley from a small block ford or the 385 series engines that would work.  IIRC, the water pump pulleys were either smooth (reverse water pump rotation) or the bolt pattern for the water pump was not correct.  There might be an option available that will work, I just gave up and used the March Performance pulley.

The March Performance water pump pulley moves the belt forward towards the front of the car. I assume the design is like this so stock brackets won't work by default, but who knows. This means the alternator and crankshaft pulleys will need to be adjusted by distancing them from the crank and block to line up with the water pump pulley along with slightly longer bolts for the alternator brackets and crank pulley.  In my case, I was able to machine the face of the v-belt pulley that came with my crank damper to align the crank pulley with the water pump pulley (see pic).  IIRC, it was right at .200 for the spacing.

Even though the alternator has plenty of space from the block for the battery+ wire after adjustment, I still installed an adapter for my 3G alternator to make accessing that connection as easy as possible. Yes, those are a nut and washer being used for spacing since I haven't had the opportunity to machine something more proper.   ;D

I forgot to add that the additional thickness of the water pump pulley moved my stock 4 blade fan dangerously close to my radiator. Between that and the increased rpms the fan would see, I converted to an electric fan as noted in another thread.

If you have any other questions about my particular conversion, let me know.
« Last Edit: June 25, 2023, 07:29:00 PM by Urgefor »

randomologist

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Re: Sepentine belt setup
« Reply #6 on: June 27, 2023, 01:53:50 PM »
I have a CVF racing full serpentine conversion with a G3 alternator, Vintage Air Gen IV & Unisteer power rack and pinion setup on my 69 Mustang with a 1963 427 FE and there were some issues related to how everything played together. Originally, I tried to piece a custom kit together using my existing brackets and just serpentine pulleys, but I wound up with essentially the full conversion. I had to ditch the Unisteer GM Type2 power steering pump and bracket Unisteer provided (they were trash anyway), and I had to ditch the Vintage Air A/C bracket, too.

All in all, I'm happy with the setup. A bit of a pain when I have to pull things apart, but tensioning is pretty quick and easy, I never have any dreaded belt squeal and it looks nice.

The pre-1964 FE's with generators have water pumps which are incompatible with the system. The generator bracket locating pin needs to be a bolt hole for the alternator bracket.
The serpentine setup had less clearance to the radiator.
The serpentine setup was wider than the stock bracket and pulley setup which nearly runs into my battery box and required me relocating my aftermarket coolant overflow reservoir.
The serpentine setup required some custom spacers (grind some down/add washers) to get everything to align correctly. Serpentine alignment is far less forgiving than V-belts.


I did a video on my experiences. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rl0LWuepxkE

Falcon67

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Re: Sepentine belt setup
« Reply #7 on: June 27, 2023, 02:24:07 PM »
Off Topic - Urgefor, how old is that engine stand?  That yellow stand looks a lot like my Eagle that I bought - and still use - in like 1976.  I haven't seen another.

Urgefor

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Re: Sepentine belt setup
« Reply #8 on: June 27, 2023, 07:59:43 PM »
Off Topic - Urgefor, how old is that engine stand?  That yellow stand looks a lot like my Eagle that I bought - and still use - in like 1976.  I haven't seen another.

Definitely not that old.  It is actually a 1/2 ton engine stand purchased from Jegs a couple years ago.  I question it's rating since the 390 put a very obvious strain on it when the engine hoist was lowered/removed after mounting it to the stand.