Hi Guys,

I've been getting my new 400SBC motor ready to drop into my TransAM and have hit a brick wall.

I bought a 87 350TBI motor specifically for the serpentine setup which came with all the bolts pulleys etc.

I've installed the water pump with no worries, and then started to try to attach the serpentine brackets and it was a VERY tight fit, but managed to get the 3 bolts on by tightening up 1/4 turn at a time.

I was worried about stripping bolts or cracking/warping the AFR heads, but it seems to have gone on.

Now the tension pulley is in the way of the throttle body and I'm at a loss.

I bolted the a/c serpentine bracket to the upper of the 2 bolt holes in the front of the block near the fuel pump plate, and the other 2 into the heads.

Is there a different bracket for TPI as opposed to TBI, or have i just done something really wrong?


Can anyone help?

 

Looks like that is off a Truck rather than a Car!!!

 

Yep, I agree. Looks like it came from a truck/suv. The truck brackets are taller and will not work on a third gen.

 

****!

Am i able to modify them at all?
It's about a 1/4" out on the bottom block bolts so can i drill them out?
The a/c bracket still needs the further right'est bolt needs to be braced to something, but buying a serp setup from the states and shipping it to Australia is not going to be possible with my budget.

Any other options I have?

 

This is how it would sit with the mounting bolt holes drilled out.

 

I still don't get it, even if it was from a truck what difference does that make?
The physical dimensions of a 350 from a truck will be the same as one from a car, the bolt holes should be in the same place on the heads and block.

I understand the clearance potential issue is there, but how does it not line up with the bolt holes?
FYI the P/N for the a/c bracket is 10118751.

 

I'm not sure what bolts aren't lining up on the block and heads or why, but does it really matter at this point if brackets won't clear the TB intake ducts anyway? You're still going to need Fbody accessories, now if they have a problem bolting up you'll need to figure out bolt hole modifications.

 

^^^^

He can also use the serpentine setup from a B/D-car TBI engine.

 

Again very rare in Australia unfortunately.

As I said above, if I move the bracket over so only one of the 2 head bolts (the outer head bolt) is used, I can attach the brace from the 3rd bracket mounting bolt hole to the exhaust stud using a space and that should provide enough stability yes?

Drilling the holes out on the bracket isn't a problem, it only needs slight adjustment to fit, and the belt should still fit with the tensioner extending out slightly more yes?

 

I'd go back to a v-belt setup but the motor has already been balanced with the crank serp pulley

 

Pulley doesn't matter about balance. You can swap them all you want.

 

I think the bolts not lining up is the heads. The OP has AFR alum. aftermarket heads..
Most aftermarket heads are off just a tad. The bigger, better heads are really a tad wider than stock to fit the valves and chamber shape the use.

It is not uncommon for brackets not to line up dead on with aftermarket heads and even some aftermarket intakes.. Kind of common to have to drill the acc. bracket holes out a touch.

 

Awesome, well that's one bit of good news.

I guess now I just need to find someone who has tried the bracing method with a truck setup and whether it's strong enough to hold or not....

 

Is there a readily available throttle body elbow i could use?
Going from the twin 58mm throttle body to a LS1 MAF at 90degrees?
I could then pipe the throttle body to the filter and keep the truck brackets.

My mate is drilling out the brackets for me to take some of the tension off the bolts.

I'd rather not experiment with the bracing though and try to be able to have it bolted to the block and heads properly.

Anything available for it?

 

I found a $20 90degree silicone tube on ebay that looks like it should bypass it so I can use the truck brackets and hopefully it will clear the hood, it's lower than the TB on both sides with the accessories on, so here's hoping.

Otherwise I guess it's back to V-belt

 

The HSR is well and widely known not to clear a Firebird hood; some of them however will shut over it if some of the bracing is notched out.

Pretty sure there's no chance at all that the hood will close on those brackets. The HSR is parallel to the crank, and thus slopes upward toward the front, significantly; but the hood slopes down toward the front. The farther forward you go, the less space, vertically, there is.

 

Those are the same brackets I pulled out of a '95 GMC 3500 for my Corvette. They are quite tall, and about a half inch closer to the block than the fbody brackets.

-- Joe

 

Hey Joe,

Does that mean they will fit but just closer to the bonnet?
If they fit in a corvette I'd assume they'll fit in an f-body

 

I think I have more hood room on my stingray than my thirdgen.

But yes, they are closer to the hood or bonnet as you guys call it.

The tensioner is also in the way of the TB as you have found, but if you have a close radius elbow it should solve that.

A lot of guys also make adapters out of 3/8" sheet stock to relocate these brackets up, down, over, whatever they need or even to mount them on a BBC.





-- Joe

 

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Guessing he solved this approx 4 years ago. It SHOULD have been self explanatory that you are on your hands and knees gravedigging for zombie threads.

GD

 

Yes you're very helpful aren't you?

As already mentioned you've dug up a 4 year old thread to throw shade instead of offer assistance.
I ended up buying another set of TPI brackets from the states, but being in Australia I was looking for a less costly alternative than shipping heavy brackets overseas.

Just crawl back under your bridge and wait for the next redundant post to jump out at.

 

my apologies,i was having a very bad week.hopefully you got it all sorted out.did you have a chance to see cleetus mcfarland's "toast" the supercharged third gen camaro at the summernats in Australia? he didn't do too well compared to the veterans,blew up on the first skid(then reinstalled a new engine that was shipped over to Australia) but it was cool to see a third gen down under "trying" to compete with the worlds greatest burnout kings.