i am putting an older carbed 350 in a 90 rs and i want to use a v-belt setup, my question is what is the best and easiest way to run just a water pump and alternator? do i need to run my alt off of a 2 groove water pump pulley? which side should i mount my alt? i have a long water pump and was just wondering what the best v-belt setup would be for my application. tia

 

is there a reason you want to go with a v-belt setup? i would highly suggest going with an aftermarket serpentine belt setup.

the v-belt system i have uses a triple groove crank pulley(only two grooves are used). one of the belts runs the PS pump. and the other belt drives the water pump and the alt. that sits on the pass. side.

 

so you just use one belt for the water pump and alt? the reason i am using vbelt is only because of a tight budget and aftermarket serp setups are pretty pricey.

 

Why not run your original serpentine system?

 

because i dont have an original serpentine setup, i bought the car as a roller.

 

Get what you need for a serp setup from a boneyard, or the classifieds on this board.

 

how much does a used serp setup run? is this compatible with the old water pump i have? i have heard about serp setups running a different pump. also , what all parts do i need? im just using an alt, wp, and crank.

 

Why are you guys knocking V-belts? Whats so much better about serpentine system?

 

im knocking v-belts cause i had one break and go through a $400 hood. the belt had less then 3500 miles, and all the pulleys were aligned correctly.

i have never had a problem with serp. setups. my new motor will have a serp. belt on it.

 

here is a pic i just saw for a serp setup on a big block in a magazine. is this a good setup? looks very easy to do. lemme know your opinions.

 

That's not serpentine. It may be a flat multi-grooved belt, but that isn't what makes it serpentine.

The serpentine system type water pump rotates the opposite direction as a non-serpentine pump (which is what I assume you mean by "older"). So, if you have an older pump, it won't work in a serpentine system. However, it would work in the system in the pic.

If all you're running is crank-wp-alt, a factory serp system probably isn't what you should be looking for.

 

so basically thats just a serp belt on a vbelt platform? how reliable would that be? looks pretty good imo. thanks man

 

Personally, I like the flat belts. The factory went to them for the alternator (from crank & wp) in '86 & '87 (not sure off the top of my head if '85 as well) before they went serp in '88.

When I was throwing V-belts on the '57 last summer, I considered finding the pulleys for a flat belt system. Turned out my alternator bearings were shot, so the flat belt wouldn't have helped, anyway (no problems after the alt was replaced).

(Oh, the '57 hood has a nice welt where the belt hit it. They used thicker sheet metal in those days, but that didn't make much difference. Just glad it didn't let go while I was checking the timing or something like that under the hood.)

 

would any serp style pulleys work on this setup? guess i need an adjustable alt bracket too huh?

 

No. For instance, the water pump on the factory serpentine set-up runs off the "back" side of the belt, with no grooves. So, a factory serp water pump pulley would not work on the set-up in the pic.

The crank and alternator pulleys should work, though.

 

do you know where i could get a serp water pump pulley? would it matter that i am going to mount alt to the pass side? thanks for the help man, i really appreciate it!!