im looking at changing to one of them march performance alternator brackets, most places i look say they dont work along side power steering and others say they do clear, then some say not to use with tall valve covers and then others say they are fine

since i cannot seem to find a straight answer, before i call the company i figured id ask here if any of you are running one of the head mounted alternator brackets as well as power steering with tall valve covers, if there was any monkeying around you had to do to get it to fit and if you had pictures of it when all on there and setup

thanks all!

 

If you run headers, a Header Power Bracket should work for you. You may need the spacer for the tall valve covers/PS pump.

http://www.headerbracket.com/index.html

 

that is how it is mounted now, i want to eliminate the header bracket.

 

I used a Summit billet bracket. The build quality is excellent, but I have fabricated valve covers (taller/wider) and the arm wasn't long enough to work properly. The alternator could not physically tip in close enough to get a belt in place. I actually cut the arm in the center, drilled and tapped and inserted a stand-off to length the arm (rod ends are LF and RH fine thread), then had to go to a longer belt. In the end it worked, but a lot of messing around. Nice quality and stable, though. If you're willing to modify and lengthen the tension arm, the rest of the bracket is very nice. I DO have power steering and that was not an issue.


It would not work with these covers:

 

thats what i needed to know, thanks much!

 

I have the stock alt. bracket on my car. The a/c was the biggest problem, MIO

 

I used the brackets from Alan Grove.

Thick steel and fits great. Multiple applications.


www.alangrovecomponents.com

 

you can look casting numbers on ebay and find these things. also, late 60's to early 70's chevy pickups used a short water pump with similar bracket.

3951337

I replaced a header bracket on my 68 (yes, I had head holes on forward end) with one of these and it is wonderful. Was real cheap too at the boneyard (ages ago, but it was like 5 bucks).

I do not have a picture of bracket (but you can google images for that view), but here you can see that it does work with PS.

 

I have the set of March brackets that came with the serpentine belt conversion kit for my 1968 427 Corvette. The brackets I have work okay but look very sad after a few years in the engine compartment. The pulleys have held up with regular cleaning but the brackets are hopeless.

The company said that they were "powder coated" but what ever they used it seems to like to peel off in sheets. The brackets looked nice when they were in the box but the quality of the coatings is very poor, at least on the set I have. The coatings literally started to fail within weeks of being installed. March says that "I did something to them because they never have any trouble like that".

The March Serpentine Belt kit "looked like a nice upgrade" for the front of my 427. The March system has no spring loaded tensioner so every few hundred miles you are out there adjusting belts again, this is why I went to the serpentine belt system in the first place.

The other thing about this conversion is that you have to go to a new style power steering pump with an external reservoir that is "if" you have power steering. That Power steering swap has been the biggest mess ever.

With all the issues I've had it might be easier going back to the old style "V"belts and pitching the entire serpentine belt conversion in the junk pile.

Since you are looking to mount your alternator and not replace your whole set of pulleys. I would go with the system from Summit myself, it looks well designed.

I hope you find a "great" solution at an "incredible" price, that works like it is supposed to!