I don't know where to put this, but I figured I want to do it to make more room for packaging a turbo setup and most likely if others did it it was for a similar reason...

Has anyone moved their alternator/rearranged their accessories to make more room around the cylinder heads? I specifically want to get the alternator on my '87 off the passenger side head and either move it down where the smog pump was or to the other side, where the AC compressor was. I want to keep the power steering pump (honestly, the AC has been converted to R134 and works, if it wasn't for that it will suck to work around I'd like to keep that, but I doubt that will happen).

What have you guys come up with that worked? Anyone have any good pics?

 

anyone?

 

yes, I did.

 

Nice, but it looks like you may have relocated yours to where mine is now (the front of the passenger side head, though it looks like it might be much further inboard, does it cover the front of the head?

Is that a later model alternator and a 4th gen style PS pump? are you using for a PS reservoir?

 

Yes, it's partially in front of the head. However, it's all nested together very tightly. It's a regular alternator, Powermaster for 82-87 w/ a CV products pulley. The pump is a KRC aluminum pump & bracket w/ remote reservoir. Reservoir hangs off the P600B

 

this image is kind of bad but you can see the alternator near the steering box. This is my brothers car and it worked great, we pretty much fabricated the bracket to make it fit there but it clears the steering box by 1/2"




here is a picture of mine


its the stock serpentine setup just without the ac or smog pump, i also used it with a mechanical water pump and it worked great too, as it is right now i dont get any belt squealing or anything, im happy with the way it turned out it is probably the cheapest way to keep power steering, and use an electric water pump lol

 

Unless you're doing a twin turbo setup, I don't see why you have to get rid of AC or move the alternator.. I've got room to grow on my turbo, until I go larger than a 72mm, in which case I just need to change my turbo manifold flange to move it out further.

 

I don't have any pics of the setup yet, but it sounds like it would work for you. On the late 80's/early 90's G-series fullsize vans the accessories mount to a single plate that bolts to the front of the engine. The alternator and power steering are both on the driver's side. The tensioner pulley mounts right in front of the thermostat housing and it runs a serpentine belt. The smog pump and AC compressor portions of the mounting plate can be cut off and it leaves the entire passenger's side of the engine bay empty. If you like, I can grab some pics this weekend after all the holiday stuff is done.

 

Astro... how big a down pipe are you running on that setup?

I'm considering doing something a little more, I'm actually debating running a set of LT1 heads that I have sitting around and running a Smokey Yunnick style cooling system, not using the manifold crossover but drilling the inboard front areas of the heads for coolant returns, so I'm wondering if I can get the accessories on the outboard sides of the heads or away from the fronts of the heads at all... If it wasn't for that I'm pretty sure I could leave the accessories as they are.

 

I'd appreciate a pic if you can get it... I'm not sure it would work but it might give me ideas...

 

I have a round 3" for the downpipe. Just enough room to be able to keep AC, although I did have to eliminate the solid heater line that runs just below the HVAC box on oil cooler equiped cars and ran rubber hose to the heater core instead. You can make 4" work if you use ovalized. Would need the turbo positioned further forward to allow from a transition from round to oval though.

Have some pics at http://mentalsocket.com/Iroc87/turbo1.html showing the clearance and also a pic of a piece of 4" oval in there.

 

This is where its mounted with the vortech. Uses the lowest bolt on the block, sits pretty close to the steering box as you can see, but everything clears fine and no loss of ground clearance. You'd need the CS rather than what you have now (its the larger old style alt, right?) and fab up some sort of bracket. AFAIK the power steering mounts in about the same location with the V-belt setup. If you can get a hold of one of the smaller alts and throw a long bolt into the bottom hole of the block you can see how it would (or would not) work out for you.

 

Madmax, is that the PS pump up above it? Are the 2 of them in there with all aftermarket brackets or do they use the factory bracket behind what looks like a supercharger plate on the front?

I'd like to avoid converting to serpentine, but if that's the easiest solution it might be worth it in the long run.

 

Yes that is the PS pump above it. The factory bracket is not used. This car was originally a v-belt setup, I 'converted' it to serpentine which consisted of the later PS pump, and the smaller CS alternator (wiring it up was very simple). I dont know how much of a conversion I could call it, none of the factory brackets are used on that side. Its all stuff from Vortech. I dont think the PS pump's position is moved much though, based upon where it fit. It may be possible to hang the alternator below the setup you have now, but I'm not certain.

 

Here are the pics. Sorry it took so long.