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Chevy 350 crate engine belt alignment issue

1392 Views 5 Replies 5 Participants Last post by  Robert67, 
Robert67
67 Chevelle/Malibu restoration project. We put a Chevy 350 crate engine in the car and we added power steering and ac. The bracket kit or individual brackets that we ordered have resulted in alignment problems. The power Steering pump/reservoir combo is low on the drivers side and the alternator is high on the same side. In order to keep the alternator belt from dragging the power steering pump the alternator had to be moved forward beyond its proper belt alignment. The alternator and the ac compressor are practically touching the valve covers too. I’m new to using crate engines and buying these brackets and I’m just wondering if this is a common problem? I don’t want to run belts misaligned. I’d really like to go with a serpentine setup but that’s too expensive for right now.
Is there a fix for this alignment problem? Do I need to make custom parts or did I just get the wrong brackets? Does anyone know of any particular brackets that work well on a Chevy crate 350 with my setup on this car?
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T
What brand and part numbers, photo's ?
And did you contact the seller ?

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk
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cerial
Run 2 belts with the powersteering mid way to low on the drivers side and the alternatior up high with the air compressior low(or swap the ac/alt spots) on the passenger side.

Use a double pulley on the crank and waterpump. You either have the brackets tension with bolt or install a tensioner(s) with a V pulley.

You should be able to buy brackets(rather cheap)that let you do this(frame clearence should be measured first).
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75gmck25
This picture is of the original belt configuration for my 75 GMC with a long water pump, which now has a 350 crate engine.
  • I later swapped to the longer PS belt that also goes over the 2nd groove on the water pump. This was part of the HD cooling option in ‘75 because you then have two belts driving the water pump. If the alternator belt breaks, you still have the water pump moving.
  • the farthest back belt is for the A6 compressor I had already removed. I later swapped to a Sanden compressor, using vintage air brackets, it took some experimentation to get the right belt length.

Everything in mine is stock GM brackets and pulleys, except for the new Sanden compressor mounting. Most of them are still sold by aftermarket suppliers.

Bruce

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wrenchbend
are you familiar with long and short water pumps? possible by accident you are using all your accessories with the wrong pump!
614907
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Robert67
wrenchbend said:
are you familiar with long and short water pumps? possible by accident you are using all your accessories with the wrong pump! View attachment 614907
Click to expand...
I am familiar but not sure what came on the crate 350. I don’t have the car here at home so it’s difficult to have meaningful conversations. lol. I’ll have to look at this later in the week. Maybe it is that simple.
Thanks for this info.
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