Thanks, I appreciate that! I will continue to keep on posting away...with the good and the bad!

Deja

 

I ordered an L88 hood scoop today from a local hot rod shop, and it should be here by the end of the week. Fortunately for me, I have a few friends in the autobody business, and I will be having them take care of the scoop installation. I COULD do the work myself and save about $300, but I have so many other things that I need done, so I'm spread pretty thin as it is....juggling work, 4 kids, a wife, and the 2 Corvettes. I almost think the Corvettes suck more time away than anything else! I will post some pics of the scoop and the completed hood when I get them.

Deja

 

I've not had a whole lot of time to work on the engine here lately, but I have may some minor progress. The biggest thing has been the brackets and accessories...making sure that they will work together with the Gilmer belt drive setup. The alternator will bolt to the passenger side head, and I will need to get an adjustment bracket that will most likely bolt on the backside of the alternator, since the BBC brackets for the passenger side all utilize a long water pump, not the stock one that I am using. By doing this, the adjustment bracket will almost be hidden from view, making a cleaner look.

The same thing goes for the power steering pump and bracket. I chose to use a Chevy truck bracket, but since it too is made for the long water pump, I solved the adjustment bracket issue with a little twist....the chrome bracket is from a BB Mopar! It fits perfect, and will also be mostly hidden from view between the pump and the block. The pump you see is from a Chevy truck, and has a remote reservoir, and would work better for an alternator mounted on the driver's side...so I may end up getting a "stock" saginaw style of pump that will eliminate the reservoir.

Lastly, since the Gilmer belt was riding a little too far forward on the water pump pulley, so I decided to use a 1" fan spacer in between the water pump and the Gilmer pulley. This pushed the pulley out so that it aligns beautifully with the crank pulley and the alternator pulley. The belt will ride squarely in the middle, and will reduce the possibility of throwing the belt at higher rpm. The front of the water pump pulley looked a little fugly with the flat surface and bolt heads, so I have a polished aluminum pulley "cone" that will eliminate that, and looks really slick. Finding longer socket head bolts will have to wait until the stores that actually carry that stuff is open next week.

So here a few pics.....and I'm almost done with the engine work, and then it will be on to the engine compartment and front suspension rebuild!







Deja

 

I swear....if it's not one thing....it's another. The brackets have proven to be the biggest pain in the ****. After a miserable failed attempt at improvising on the passenger side alternator bracket, I broke down and bought a driver's side mounted bracket that has the tension rod. Worked really well.......but......once installed, the Gilmer belt drive no longer lined up. And not by a little either....like by 1 1/2". The shop that I got the setup from had no solution for me, so I had to exchange the belt drive for a set of aluminum v-belt pulleys. I actually like the way it looks, but now I am going to have to shim the water pump out about 1/4", since it sits too far back now. And now I am not sure if the power steering pump will fit with the new alternator bracket in place. Fortunately I have a remote reservoir pump, and may need to route the reservoir....well.....somewhere. Haven't got that far yet though. So it's just another thing to contend with. And that damnable alternator bracket was $130 to boot! (cough, cough!)

I had taken a break from the engine for a few days, and got the engine compartment all prepped and painted. It's now black, as opposed to....dirt, brown, gray, and some black thrown in for flavor. It's not perfect, but a heck of a lot better than what it was, and looks very presentable. I used John Deere semi-gloss black on the crossmember and frame, and the Blitz black on the inner fenders and firewall. Turned out nicely, and I am now needing to order my suspension parts while the engine is still out. It seems like it would be a lot easier with no motor to contend with there. Time will tell I suppose, and I wil try to get some photos posted in the next day or so.

Deja

 

Will your remote reservoit power steering pump work with that ps bracket in the pictures? Do you have a picture of the PS pump? Hang in there Baby.
Bee Jay
PS That is a cool "SHAFT" poster in your garage. My other alter ego is "Magnum-Shaft".

 

Yep....it's official. I AM in 454 engine bracket hell. Without a doubt. There is some spiraling vortex of hell that I have been sucked into, headfirst....with power steering bracket in hand.

Got the alternator all rigged up, had to get a new belt, but it's good to go! Went to see how the power steering pump would fit....and spttheesttttt.....it all went to shiznit in a handbag. Not a Gucci "hey that's a really cool bag. Where'd you get that" kind of bag. Nope. It's a "hey I just got my groceries loaded up and they forgot to double bag my cans of Dinty Moore beef stew and I ALMOST made it to the front door before it ripped and gave way" kind of bag. Yeah, that cool, I know. The alternator belt now zooms right across the path of the power steering pump. So I couldn't mount that bracket there even if I wanted to. You'd think I'd get some good luck, even by pure chance. But nope...not for this cat. So now I am going to have to figure some way of mounting a pump, in the midst of the long alternator belt and custom aluminum brackets. I don't even see how this whole thing is going to come together, and I really think I'm a stone's throw from losing the last shred of sanity that I have. Like seriously...it was almost like I had some sort of seizure when I tried to mount it up. I felt all twitchy and clammy. Oooh! Oooh! And I got in my used Holley 750cfm carb with vacuum secondary...the one with the really cool Summit racing chrome fuel line and fuel pressure gauge....and it hits on the intake bolts, even with the carb adapter that I have! Yesssss!! How cooool am I?! The coolest. I know....you're jealous, but hey....everyone can't be me....'cause then I'd NEVER find any clean socks!!!

(Yes.....I have lost it, I know!)

Deja

 

I had the same problem on my 70 Torino. I had to bend the really cool racing chrome fuel line. It was a lot less cool after that, but it worked.

 

As said before you can get the stock brackets from Paragon. Do not forget the water pump pulley which is the expensive part lol. And the crank pulley. You may also need a new pulley for the power steering pump.

Or you can go nuts with a March set up.

 

Asking- you are aware the early BB cars have 3 belts. One from the crank to the water pump, one from the crank to the water pump to the power steering, and the 3rd one from the power steering pump to the alternator. At least that's how my 69 was setup at the factory.

Belt P/N's if you need them:

Dayco 15325 Crank to Water pump
Dayco 15445 Crank to water pump to Power Steering
NAPA 25-08003 Power Steering to Alternator

2 groove pulleys on everything but the alternator, and it has a slightly bigger diameter than a normal passenger car/truck with a built in spacer on the aft side of the groove.

 

Ok.....a good night's sleep has given me a liiiiiittle more perspective on the situation. Not much, but a little. So I found a picture of the bracket that I am using, and how my setup will look....and I am more than just a little concerned about it fitting in the engine compartment. The alternator does sit up pretty high, and that's my number one concerns. Here's the picture that I found, so you can see what mine pretty much looks like. I'm just too lazy today to get my camera out.



So as you can see, the alternator belt goes between the power steering pump and the pulley! Can't let that belt get all flopsy-mopsy or it will get all chewed up. I am going to have to get a 3-groove crank pulley instead of the 2-groove pulley, and cut off the most inner of the 3 pulley grooves...scribe, cut, and sand. Not a biggie. But it's the FIT of the alternator that has me on edge. Is anyone out there running something like this bracket??

Deja

 

Hmmm....any pics of that? Check out my photo above, and you will see what mine looks like. It appears that I may need to get a 2 groove w/p pulley and a 3-groove crank pulley in order to get this thing to fly.

Deja

 

I don't have any good pics with me- won't be home for another week.

It is in the AIM, however.

I did find this one. Just the WP and PS- I was in the middle of changing pistons....The rear belt on the WP goes to the crank, and the rear groove on the PS is the one the belt looped around there runs. Front groove on the PS is for the alternator.

 

I am running a very similar setup on my BB under a stock SB hood (air cleaner is an issue though)!

I too had the nightmares that your having with pulleys, eventually spoke to summit racing, spent alot of time explaining the situation and they eventually came up with a suggested set up. Ordered everything (3rd set of pulleys by this point) and when they arrived they mounted the PAS pump so that it fouled the chassis by a good few inches

To say I wasnt amused was an under statement! haha.

I ended up modifying the lower part the alternator bracket to allow the standard PAS pump sit higher (above the chassis rail), making my own PAS pump brackets, then shortening the alternator adjusting rod to make the alternator belt shorter to allow the alternator belt to clear the shaft of the pas pump. It was a very tight fit, I reckon I have 1/2 to 3/4 between the alt belt and pas pump shaft. A finger width below the PAS pulley and the chassis rail, 3/4 between the highest point of the alternator and the hood.

I know what your going through, forget speaking to suppliers and set your mind to it, you will get there. Suppliers are more than happy to sell you a 2K setup that they cant tell you if it will fit or not.

Im happy to take a couple of pics if you want to PM me your email ad.



Lester

 

Here are a couple of shots of the factory pulley arrangement.
Hopefully they will help.