foney_email

I can not use a strut tower bar on my car, because I have a carbureted 350 with ac on the drivers side and v-belts.

I am doing a whole bunch of little engine things to tide me over until I can get new floor boards.

Anyway, I am considering swapping to a serpentine setup.

If I swap to serpentine keeping powersteering, ac, alt, but with no smog pump or tensioner (clutter), can I use a strut tower brace?

I am not intimidated by the swap, but I am already fitted to 134a, and I don't want to have to replace all I need to instal a new ac compressor, including evacuating the system, and recharging it.

Too much work that I can't do myself.

But is a serpentine setup better than my current v-belt setup? Can I use a strut tower brace with serp, and carbed? Can I just change the clutch on the ac compressor, and loop the lines to be on the passengers side instead of drivers side?

Is it 100% necessary to swap the entire compressor, or can I just change the clutch? Also I plan on either flipping the impeller on the water pump so it can run normally, or just swapping the pulley on my water pump, because I think that it would be easier on the install if I don't do reverse cooling, right?

I have searched for a long time, but I don't really know why serpentine is a better alternative, and how I can swap it without having to change my compressor.

I want to stay as low buck as possible, which includes just getting pulleys from the junk yard if I can.

Let me know what my options are, or if I should just stick with v belts and not worry about having a strut tower brace.

Thanks

Sonar_un

If a STB is your only worry... well...

You can use a STB on a carbed car and v-belts. I don't know whats in your way. I have seen many STB's (Mostly the Jamex kind) on cars with your configuration.

If you swap to v-belts, you could change the clutch on your compressor, but, then again, its practically the same price as a new compressor altogether.

foney_email

My air conditioner bracket, and the braces are in the way for installing a strut tower brace.

They prevent anything from going across there, so a stb is a no go.

If anyone out there has a pic of a system that worked for them, let me know, but I have been searching for a long time, and unless i make a bend near the ac compressor on a custom one, then I won't have any luck.

foney_email

so if I change the clutch, that will not require evacutation of the system, right?

rx7speed

all this money and effort just to fit a strut tower brace?
why not fab one up yourself?

foney_email

Serpentine setups look cool on a carbed car.

It just gives my engine something a little different than what is around here.

But yeah, the strut tower bar would look much nicer from edelbrock, instead of from me.

I am not a welder. But basically I can use the strut tower bar if I switch to serpentine though, right?

I can probably get the serpentine setup cheap from a couple of places 'round here.

So does anyone think I have a reasonable need to switch to serpentine?

foney_email

I am still wanting to switch over if necessary.

Anyone else done this for the reason of having a strut tower brace.

Is this that crazy of an idea?

Apeiron

I'd probably try to fabricate or even buy a new bracket to mount the A/C compressor lower or something first before swapping everything.

foney_email

I have a few different ac brackets right now, and they are all different sizes, and I will try to experiment.

I think it would look sweet to just have a serpentine system though. If I find one cheap enough, I think I am going to go for it. I guess the only trade off it that it may take more power to turn them, because the belt is heavier, or something like that.

There has to be a reason why serpentine is not as good performance wise, otherwise I would see this more often in performance built 350's, right?

Why did gm switch to serpentine in the first place, it has some practical application, right.

I think it has to be better some how.

84z28350

Didnt they switch to serp because you can run all accys off of one belt instead of having multiple v-belts?

Probably that among other things.


Its not a huge deal evacing and charging the ac system, you should be able to pick up a kit at the parts store to do that.

SSC

GM did it because it looks cool. It's actually supposed to be more efficient. It's a worth while mod IMO but to mount it correctly you need the heads that have 3 accessory holes on both sides. Caprices also use the same setup if you cant find an Fbody donor.

MonteMan357

Im looking to trade my serpentine setup straight up for a v belt setup. lemme know

Apeiron

It's also a lot easier to deal with one belt with an automatic tensioner than it is with a half dozen individual belts that you need five hands to tighten properly.

rx7speed

I donno. I've dealt with some serpentine belts that make me cringe when trying to get them to work.

shaggy56

I do v-belt setups with 2 hands no problems here.

Apeiron

I was exaggerating. The point is that the tensioner takes care of tightening the belt, even as it wears and stretches.

Supervisor42

Just my
The serpentine setup takes less horsepower to run the same stuff and it lasts a lot longer without maintenance.
What you should do is try to score the A/C hoses from the donor car at the same time. If you pull it all in one chunk at the JY they usually charge you the same thing. It's worth it to get rid of the A/C hoses that run all around the front of the car and 1/2 MPG more from now on.
Check this thread also for info on the same topic:
https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/sho...hreadid=334459

Edit: Serpentine setups are not on drag race cars because they don't have that many acessories to run: waterpump&alternator.
Serpentine setups are on high performance street setups because you can spin them to very high rpm without throwing them off because they have lower mass than v-belts.

rx7speed

hey I have no problem spinning my v-belts up to 8,000 rpms all the time.

and that was with all my accessories hooked up. but now the only ones hooked up are my air pump and alternator.
would only be the alternator but I need that second pully that goes around the airpump since it also drives the waterpump.
just the alternator belt driving the waterpump doesn't work that well since there isn't enough mesh area between the belt and the pully to rotate it that well.


don't get me wrong it's not that I dislike serpentine belts but some of the cars they are on it is a biatch to work with.
plus if your only running na few accessories it isn't all that bad to use a v-belt setup I wouldn't think

84z28350

I have only thrown one belt, it was at about 6000RPM and the belt looked like it was probably the original that came with the '74 motor and its about a mile long lol.

But other then that shabby old belt i never have a problem with belts spinning it up that high.

rx7speed

also wouldn't a serpentine belt have a higher mass?
it seems with a belt that is just about twice and wide and just about as thick as a v-belt the mass would be the same if not higher.


but yeah still the only time you should be throwing belts is if there is a problem not because it is a v-belt or serpentine belt.

as I've said I've learned that one already with v-belts doing just fine at higher rpms. that is also with a missed shift going from 5th to forth... oops I mean second on the freeway.

foney_email

Well I bought one, with new ac compressor, and all the pulleys and stuff I need. I will have to check to see if I need to tap my heads to run the brackets.

I will send some pics when I install it if I have time...

Thanks...

Next step: Strut tower brace. I really like suspension. If I just had enough cash, I would be a suspension junkie. It just takes a little more and I will have a brand new front end. The rear is next...

tad1214

Make sure the setup is NOT from a reverse coolant flow car. That might cause a slight problem if you do. I know alot of the newer cars have it more specifically LS1 and LT1. Also, make sure it has all the accessories you need to, finding serp belt pullies could be a pita. Like andy said, grab them all. The serp belt would have a lower mass (figureativley speaking) because it is lower to the turning point vs the v belts height. Think lowered cars turning. It would also have more surface area compared to a v belt because most of them have multiple v's. However, snapping a serp belt sucks really bad, you loose every thing. PS, Smog, AC, WP (Big Uh Oh), and Alt. So if you throw a v belt, usually your water pump is still spinnng and typically you loose either the ps or alt, not both. Your call, seems like alot of money that could be spent else where for better results. Hell, pay a guy to fab one up for you if your not good at it. Im sure a professional would do just fine in appearance. Plus you have an excuse to buy a powder coating kit. Mmmmm powder coating.

foney_email

No this is from a gen I 350. I really like the look of a serp system. I am buying this because the t-5 swap I was buying fell through, and I just had to buy something. Besides, serp pulleys look way better than v-bels imho. Especially if I decide to buy a powdercoating gun. That would be great. I already have an extra elec. oven for curing parts. I can also underdrive accessories now. I can just buy underdrive p/s pulleys, and underdrive for the a/c, w/p and alt. I like the idea of underdriving the p/s and a/c. That is something that I did not know I could do untill yesterday.

The gains are minimal, but I know everyone of us has done something that cost more than it was worth, (like buying a serp setup).

Besides, I really like having aluminum on my car. I will never have the cleanest, or most detailed engine bay, but v-belts make a lot of un-necessary clutter. With this serp setup, I can low mount the accessories, and have a much cleaner looking appearance. Besides I was looking for an excuse to have to run electric fans anyway. Now I don't have a choice.

Thanks. Pics will come when I get it in the mail.

Jay

foney_email

It also looks like I will have to drill an extra hole into the head, and thus into the water jacket. Oh well, I guess that is the way it goes.

BTW. I should know this, but is the best way to set a stud into the block by using two nuts on it? Thread one on then another behind it so I can screw it in like a regular bolt, or is there a better way?

Will normal thread locker make the hole that I am drilling into the water jacket not leak, or do I need some other type of sealant.

Thanks

ljnowell

Why? You do not want to drill any holes into the heads, nor should you have too.