Hello all,

Now that it is consistently in the 90's, I am taking my '74 in to find out what the AC needs. I've had the car 2 1/2 years and the previous owner said she never used the AC for the previous 12.

The mechanic who I've used for 15 years or so and trust,told me he recently measured a 1980 for a serpentine system from GM which included PS and water pumps and a new AC compressor with brackets and tensioner. He did not mention if it included a fan. He didn't do the job but said the manufacturers dimensions fit with one inch to spare.

Has anyone had experience with this kit. Troy said the cost was about $1100. If my entire existing system is compromised as I fear, the new parts could be around $800 from what I've seen.

The 350 has already be rebuilt from the bottom up including a hyd roller setup,Dart heads, Edelbrock manifold Holley carb and an aluminum radiator so I am not concerned with originality any more.

Has anyone made the conversion to serpentine?

Thanks,

Ray

 

Not yet on my '68.....I'm collecting the pulleys now. Articles say that vehicles built in the 80-90s with 5.7 liter gm engines have the brackets needed to make the changeover. I have purchased the serpentine crank, water pump, and alternator pulleys from salvage yards for $15 total!

I will buy the idler, tension pulley, and brackets from the salvage yards also once I get ready to route the serpentine belt, since I,m currently driving the car with the original V-belt setup.

Since I had to replace the standard rotation water pump recently, I will modify the serpentine routing to accommodate the new clockwise pump. Modern serpentine water pumps turn the opposite way.

It will probably cost me another day at the salvage yard, another $75...but the hundreds that I save will go into other areas of the car!

 

DG, you need to get the front drives, minus water pump which you buy new locally,......from a vette/junk yard source.....'88-91 fit fine and are on my '72 complete with the matching compressor, not an R4 or some other crap hookup..... I hope you have later heads on the engine or you will have a problem with one missing upper bolt on the pass side that you need for the a/c bracket.....that can be fabbed by making a L shape fitting to bolt to the front most intake bolt down to that missing bolt......BTDT, without it you will break the a/c bracket and then have to get it TIG welded....so all stock bolts are need be in place.....

You can NOT use anything I know of in way of a stock GM drive and NOT run the water pump off the backside of the serp belt, that means it's reverse rotation, so scrap the new pump...sorry.....

I dunno about all the depth issues with these accessory drives in various models, much less the height problems associated with C3 hoods of various descriptions.....I just know that my '88-91 vette stuff works and clears everything......years ago I bought an airpump eliminator/idler kit to ditch the airpump, but it's easy enough to make, really......

PM me if questions, maybe send pix through emails.....

 

Just installed in my 1978. GM part # 12497696



Install required simple mods to fit my corvette.

1. Lower idler pully will hit the right side control arm. I used the most common fix and installed the pulley upside down which required a longer belt. I purchased from NAPA a belt that was 1" longer.

2. The power steering unit uses a different fitting for the high pressure hose. ( swapped over from my old pump ) the low pressure side fitting points up, and the original points down. Added a custom bent extension to point down. All the stock hoses fit.

3. I did not install a fan on the water pump, but you would need a reverse fan to work. I am going with dual electric fans.

4. Electrical connection to the alternator requires you to splice into the exisiting wires. I went and made a custom block to connect the existing connectors to and connect the new wires to. I did not want to modify any of the original wires at all.

5. I dont have the AC connected yet but the existing hoses dont reach properly. I was still running R12 so I needed to make some changes anyways. The old compressor died.

6 Used a upper rad hose from a 1995 Ford bronco and cut the end off at the rad to fit.

7. lower rad hose fits but adds addition bend at one elbow. Not enough to worry about.
I like the extra space and clean look.

8. The brackets that bolt on the block and head use 2 or 3 bolt holes in the head. My original L48 only had 2. GM States you can leave out the one if missing but my ZZ383 fast burn heads had all 3

 

Thanks Cagotzmann,
I had rea somewhere abouth the pulley control arm conflict. You have that taken care of .

Have to travel today . Will check back Monday.

Ray

 

On my 79, Pull the brackes for a car in the salvvage yard its alot cheaper.I reused my power steering pump just make sure you get the brackets with the AC on the passenger side or you will have to have lines made up.

 

I must admit that the serpentine belt sure looks great on a C3 but I am not really sure why folks go through all the trouble-time and money- to convert to that setup on a C3? Unless I drove my car as a daily driver for thousands of miles a year, I don't really see it. I drive my C3 maybe 750-1,000 miles per year and can't remember the last time, I actually changed the belts-I carry a spare for the alternator and the PS pump. The advantage of the multiple belt system is that the car can still be driven if a belt fails which is not true of the serpentine system.

Why do you guys use a serpentine belt? just curious. Thanks

 

For me its was simple.

1. my old AC died
2. old alternator is only 72A needed more for my dual fans
3. the fan shroud is in way makes it hard for me to adjust my alignment ( road racing vs street driving )
4. No fuss belt tension adjustments
5. looks cleaner ?
6. The important one. The ZZ383 doesn't like the stock short required water pump if using all the existing accessories. You need to grind a front cover bolt and a bit from the water pump to fit. I did not like that idea.

7. Carry a spare serpentine belt and a 3/8 drive racket and the belt is replaced in 60 sec, and you dont get dirty. You cannot deal with belt replacements such as the PS belt on the road side without getting dirty. For me when road racing I am happy with a 60 sec change should something happen.

It was easier and the kit provided 2 items I had to purchase anyways.

 

Cagotzmann, In the picture you have a air intake that is going over the radiator What Vehicle is this from?

Thanks,
Tim

 

That is stock from my 78 corvette.

 

- but it is really cool...... No benefit for me either but it does make it all look tidier....so I understand.

 

Yes, that is the cold air dual snorkel air intake assembly (L-82) used in 78 without the flex hose to the stock air cleaner. I believe the L-48's in 78 had only a single cold air intake. I just totally rebuilt my OEM L-82 using the OEM block (all numbers match-engine-4 speed - Vin) and purposely retained as much as possible from the OEM L-82 (it looks pretty close to a stock L-82) BUT it is now a 355 with Forged JE racing pistons/rings, AFR 180 64 CC aluminum heads, Howards Roller cam-.525/.525, duration 219/225, LSA110, and 10-10.2:1 compression. The goal was to retain as much of the OEM L-82 as possible (example of the stock dual cold air intake), make it look like a pretty stock L-82, and make the HP of a crate 383-Mission accomplished! The "new" L-82 is beast.

 

Thanks for the explanation-makes sense! The PS pump belt is a pain if it breaks-you are correct. The alternator (I have a CS-144-140 amp) is easy as pie and the A/C (which is disconnected on my 78 currently) is an easy switch as well. I understand. Thanks

CS-144:

 

I did mine for a combination of reasons

1 Not sure what brackets were on my car for alt but, could not tighten alt belt enough to keep it from squealing and couldny use shorter belt because alt hit valve cover.

2 the belt on the car was cutting into the bottom of the upper rad hose.

3 already had e fans, needed bigger alternator

4 plan on having ac didnt have stock ac compressor

5 I have a tendency to over tighten v belts causing problems


I had no mods to make it fit on my 79, the smog pump didn't make it from the salvage yard and I don't have a lower idler pulley.

 

Thanks, the reason I ask is I'm doing a LS conversion with my frame off and looking to find a way to get air from in front of the radiator to the intake that does not look crazy.

Thanks again

 

also forgot I couldnt check the ps fluid without removing the old alternator.

 

here is a better picture-totally stock-78 L-82::

 

Now I have to do it.....LOL!

 

I found this thread while doing a search for another member who is considering a serpentine set-up. The overheating problem I was having is now solved and was the main reason I was going to serpentine.

Since the project car has only an alternator I still may do the serpentine since I upgraded to a 130 amp. The trick will be to make a hybrid serpentine pulley for the water pump....which should be f=u=n!

Later.