Question about belts..

[datsunlover]

..and which to use; 'V' belts, or a serpentine(sp) setup. Which is.. uh.. better I guess.. but keeping in mind, this is for my 86 rx7 and there aint a whole lot of room in front anymore.. sbc's do that to little engine bays..

 

Anyway, I have all serpentine pullys at this point (doner car had it) but the GM brackets have the alternator above the ps pump. I have to run the power steering on the drivers side but there is no room above for the alternator. So I thought no prob, I'll just run it on the passenger side. Problem with that is, there isn't much room left for an idler/tensioner pully and bracket. I'm assuming the serpentine belt has to wrap over at least 1/3 of the pully(s) to work properly, but I don't know for sure. Anyway, here are the options I have, as I see it;

 

1- Keep serpentine system, use chevy alternator, attempt to work idler/tensioner on there somehow..

 

2- Same as above, but swap serpentine pully on to MAZDA alternator (which is a bit smaller) and build custom brackets. Posibly get away with the mazda alternator on top the p/s pump with some customising of the gm bracket, leaving room on the passenger side for the tensioner.

 

3- Get 'v' belt pullys for the chevy motor, run one belt on the water pump and p/s, one on the alternator. Posibly just an older gm p/s pump and alternator with the v pullys on it (should be cheep at a j/y) and although it would still mean a custom bracket for the alternator to get it low on the passenger side, it would be simpler imo.

 

What do you guys think? I know a lot of you know your sbc stuff really good, and thats why I'm asking here instead of another forum. Thanks for any input.

[strotter]

I did a power-steering and smog pump delete in my Z swap, using the factory cast-aluminum mounts. I "deleted" (with a jig saw) the lower part of the mounts then cleaned them up for a nicer look. What I have left is an alternator on the upper driver's side and the a/c compressor on the upper passenger side (both per the factory). This is similar to a mod in the JTR "TPI/TBI engine swapping" book (pg.2-11 in the 2001 edition). The belt # is Goodyear 4060805, and they're available in many lengths. Soooo, if you can bet your p/s pump in the upper passenger-side position, where my a/c pump is, you can make it work easily (if I'm understanding you correctly).

[datsunlover]

Hmm.. well I don't know about puting the p/s pump on the passenger side, as it would make for a mess of lines all over the place (not to mention extending them I would think.) as the lines come off the rack right near the drivers side frame area. I take it you're running a V belt system? You didn't mention a tensioner or idler pully.. Or does a serpentine belt not need a tensioner if you keep things symetrical? (one accesory on the left, one on the right of the water pump?)

 

I think I understand what you are saying though, and I was thinkng about doing some 'deleting' last night as I stared at the GM brackets. Something else I thought of too, the V belt setup would place evrything closer to the block.. IE; leaving more room between the engine and rad for my electric fan.

 

Thanks for the info man.. and btw, I'll be looking to pick your brain sometime soon (was told by a fellow member you know a good deal about the tbi system) as I'm pretty close to wiring this thing up now..

[datsunlover]

To update a little, I've gone with a serpentine belt, and done some 'rigging' with my p/s pump and alternator. Here's what I have;

-P/S pump on the drivers side, attached with a stock GM bracket (aluminum piece, used to have alt. on top) which I have hacked the upper pieces off for hood clearance.

-Alternator on the passenger side, custom bracket holding it to the head, have to build a brace bar over to the drivers side still. On the other side of the alternator, I have a thick piece of flat bar sticking out, with two 6" shocks attachet to it. (just like the hatch shocks, but smaller) They point down and slightly to the drivers side, and are secured to whats left of a stock gm air pump/ac/idler pully bracket. (thats attached to the engine with the bolts beside the crank pully) I built a 'tool' for pushing the alternator down to change belts, and I'm suprised the force I have to put on it.. should hold the belt tight enough.

 

Serpentine belt goes under the crank, around the ps pump, under the water pump, and over and around the alternator back down to the crank. I'll have to get a picture I think, as I'm sure this sounds confusing..