In my neverending quest to figure out why one of my belts has been squealing since I got the car back from a 6 month sit with a blown engine, I decided to get under the hood and find out exactly what the problem was since this issue made my 7 out of 10 star 85 Z28 sound like a real junker.

First thing I tried was some belt dressing (I know I did it backwards). That helped the problem but didn't solve it.

Next thing I did was check the tension. Keep in mind all of these belts were replaced and not making a single peep right before the old engine went south.

AIR belt and Alternator belt seemed fine, but the power steering belt seemed a little slack. So I set out to add some tension. I loosened all three bolts, but the SOB would not budge. There was one bolt being feisty for some reason and not allowing the pump to slide back and forth. So I removed that bolt comopletely, and with a ping I realized why it had caused so much trouble. The bolt hole in the pump bracket and the bracket that bolted to the block were completely misalligned. In no way form or fashion short of completely pulling the pump could I get that bolt back in. So I put as much tension on the pump as I could, and tightened the other two bolts as much as I could. After some more belt dressing, it still squeals but not as bad. The bolt that refuses to go back in is the one farthest on the drivers side, that goes into the bracket that would hold the compressor if it hadn't been removed.
I'm really not trying to spend too much time on the front end as all of that junk is original getting replaced ion the spring. Alternator, belts (Belts are not original but I don't trust them after sitting for 6 months), water pump and pullies. At most the only original items will be the AIR pump and PS pump.

So question is, without this bolt in place should I be worried? The car ran fine for about 20 minutes afterwards without it, And watching under the hood with the engine running nothing spooky appears to be going on.

 

here is the deal with us 3rd genners

we run into this all the time!!!!!

if fact I know I like it because its a challenge

I also know that tommarro she will be complaining for more attention.

if you want to go the extra mile these cars are worth every minute you drive them

if you want to start half steppin or a car that will never give you a problem get a new toyota

 

I think you misinterpreted my post completely.

I love a challenge and hands-on, DIY work.

What I don't like, is spending hours working on junk parts just to get them half*** in place, just to trash them for shiny new pieces a few months later.

Will I run into any problems without this bolt in place until spring when I redo the whole front end of the engine. That's all I was asking.

The car drove to work this morning perfectly fine. A bit of belt squeal still, but otherwise nothing abnormal...

 

The squealing will probably get worse and you'll end up fixing it right long before the spring.

Are you missing any bracing bars?