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I bought a 81 c3 last Saturday and Ive spent whole week going through the car. Had engine Mount bolt missing,, bolts were loose on steering column bracket etc. it’s lots of work but it’s a beautiful car so I don’t mind it all. My question is How far can you shim out the alternator bracket without throwing alignment of the belt from crank pulley? My current bracket with alternator belt is rubbing about 3/16th on power steering pump bracket bolt.
Something is not right. First try to determine what is not right. Wrong waterpump or pulley? Incorrect mounting brackets on Alternator? Belts should align straight off of crank pulley to waterpump pulley to Alternator pully. Power steering pump pulley is on it's own.
Here's a couple photos I took just now of my 77. Your car should be the same. All original brackets, engine and correct Corvette waterpump. NOT a 350 chev short pump. Which I believe is the most common problem with miss aligned belts.
Something is not right. First try to determine what is not right. Wrong waterpump or pulley? Incorrect mounting brackets on Alternator? Belts should align straight off of crank pulley to waterpump pulley to Alternator pully. Power steering pump pulley is on it's own.
Here's a couple photos I took just now of my 77. Your car should be the same. All original brackets, engine and correct Corvette waterpump. NOT a 350 chev short pump. Which I believe is the most common problem with miss aligned belts.
thanks for the reply. It’s not stock engine. It’s HP engine from blue monkey performance. Crank shaft pulley has 3 belt ribs. It has power steering belt in the first rib, second rib on crank pulley is blank. Third rib has the alternator belt and water pump belt. Picture steering bracket looks after marker and so is alternator bracket. Picture below. Second pic is where the alternator belt is running on lower power steering bolt.
Looking at your photos, it looks all kinda wrong! Alternator bracket (upper) on wrong side of Alternator. Crank pulley should position that Alternator belt outboard more. Wrong crank pulley for a Corvette?
Looks like your not running Air-con. Normally in second grove. Why not move Alternator belt to second grove and see if you can align from there?
Looking at your photos, it looks all kinda wrong! Alternator bracket (upper) on wrong side of Alternator. Crank pulley should position that Alternator belt outboard more. Wrong crank pulley for a Corvette?
Looks like your not running Air-con. Normally in second grove. Why not move Alternator belt to second grove and see if you can align from there?
I was thinking about doing what you said but if I move it to the second rib, it will be misaligned even more with current bracket. Like I said, it’s not stock engine and special build from blue monkey performance from North Carolina. I m not about to question engine builders on why alternator is on the drive side.
Alternator belongs on drivers side. looking at your photo. looks like your Alternator belt is running backwards now from alternator to water pump. Look at the lower photo of my car. see how pulleys on crank are larger than the balancer. also see how crank pulley obviously puts alternator belt below those bolts and well outside the powersteering pump bracket. I would start by trying to find the correct crank pulley setup. Make certain that is a Corvette water pump on there. Even if engine is not original. in order to get all your accessory belts lining up you need to have the correct Corvette pulleys and water pump.
Alternator belongs on drivers side. looking at your photo. looks like your Alternator belt is running backwards now from alternator to water pump. Look at the lower photo of my car. see how pulleys on crank are larger than the balancer. also see how crank pulley obviously puts alternator belt below those bolts and well outside the powersteering pump bracket. I would start by trying to find the correct crank pulley setup. Make certain that is a Corvette water pump on there. Even if engine is not original. in order to get all your accessory belts lining up you need to have the correct Corvette pulleys and water pump.
I misread your reply. I will try to tp address the alternator bracket on the correct side and try to second rib. If that does not work would a shorter belt which can move the alternator up about 1 inch from bracket work? My original question was I think if I can add 1/8th spacer on the lower bracket, it can clear that rub, just wanted to know if that 1/8th spacer can cause belt to throw off from crank pulley. I checked the receipts and it does have correct water pump. Thank you sir for your help.
Last edited by riverwabbit703; Oct 24, 2021 at 09:29 AM.
Issue resolved. I bolted lower inner part of the bracket to the engine block with 3/8 coarse 16 bolt. This still holds 2 bolts to the block. Just bottom in is not the 3.5 inch bolt. No more rubbing belts on the lower bracket bolt. Thanks to all again.
Alternator shimming
