Hi. On my thoroughly used and abused 83 Z, the engine cooling fan is the motor-driven clutch type fan. I thought all the third gens had electric fan. Is there some creative repair work under my hood? It is all but impossible to get the belts to line up, and I was just thiinking that perhaps someone did away with the electric fan, serpentine belt setup. Anybody know about this?

 

83Z,

Not all ThirdGens had electric fans from the factory. Many of the earlier models (such as your '83) had a clutch fan as standard equipment. If you are having belt alignment problems, you may have an incorrect water pump installed on the engine, or an aftermarket fan sheave that has the wrong backset for your setup.

BTW - ThirdGens did not have a full poly-V belt ("serpentine", as some call it) until the 1988 model year. Earlier years had either standard 37° 'V' belts or a mixture of 'V' belts and a single poly-V (like my '86).

 

Yup, most of the LG4 cars came with the old power-robbing belt-driven clutch fan. If your car has the LG4 motor, it's probably stock.

Sounds also like your brackets are assembled incorrectly, or mismatched. People seem to have alot of trouble putting that system back together right after they mess with it. Most likely, your power steering pump is on in the wrong place, and consequently misaligned; usually that's what gets screwed up.