Hello I’ve seen a few threads are checking the power steering fluid which I was never able to get the cap off regardless of all the suggestions of which way to tilted or whatever however I did see a post or two about extending the alternator belt and or extending the power steering belt. For anybody that’s looking to improve this process, it is true that if you extend the power steering belt the original belt size that fits the car puts the adjustment about dead center, where it should be however for me my cap is directly under the bracket for the alternator and it is impossible to get it off. I went to O’Reilly’s andPurchased a belt that was 1 inch bigger than the original belt. unfortunately it was too much and I was out of adjustment I went back and got a belt 1/2 bigger from O’Reilly’s that actually was their master pro brand but it is exactly a gates belt and it appears that the master pro is six dollars USA made and the gates is $22 anyway for those struggling here is a few pics and the belt that I used in order to gain access for the It’s tight but doable now.
79 L82 w ac


Allows the cap to be removed as the bracket starts to angle towards drivers side. Not taking dipstick out with it directly under bracket

 

No problem here BUT:
I long ago removed the A.I.R. pump and changed the belt routing.

The original left exhaust manifold was replaced with a GM 3846559 (1970-1971 I think) that has the alternator mounting extension as part of the casting and use a GM 3846565 (1964-1971) mounting bracket assembly. The original left GM 3932461 manifold would not have had this mounting extension and the alternator would have mounted to a separate GM 3951337 bracket assembly that bolted to the front of the cylinder head.

I also use Alternator V-Belt 54-1/8" long which swings the alternator further towards the fender.

 

I looked at extending the alternator...but it’s the bracket not the belt in the way..so I went with the ps extended.