I've been having problems maintaining adequate voltage lately with accessories running in this cold wet climate running the March steel pulley set. I asked March about changing the pulley size and what belt to use and they got back to me with only a suggestion to use their 1.825 pulley replacement which still affords the benefit of the pulley set. I didn't measure the original stock size and wonder if it would work as I remember it being just about that size if not smaller and I still have it somewhere. Does anyone know what belt to use ? using either March's pulley or the stock one if it can be used with no problems ? Dayco offers an number of sizes just by going down in part #'s. I'd prefer not to experiment as the steering rack has a clamp right next to the dampener that makes changing the belt a real pain as there's barely enough room to get the belt though and not enough room to get ones hand in there to twist it to come through. I just changed the alternator and wound up leaving the old belt in place till I can find a tool to assist the change as I hear there is one or somehow move that clamp around to get more room.

 

I run the underdrive crank & overdrive alt pulleys from the March Power & Amp pulley series and have adequate charging at idle with accessories on.

I don't recall the belt size for this setup but had to give it a copla tries to get the right belt size.

If you remove the "frisbee" from the water pump pulley access to the serpentine is greatly simplified.

To snake the serpentine past the PS sylinder clamp just twist the belt and slip it between the clamp and the crank pulley. Again working up there is much easier with the "frisbee" gone, and you will gain 8-10chp. Check out my site for details on removing this boat anchor.

 

Thanks for the tip, I was a little surprised at the noticeable difference with the change to the March pulley set and with the additional removal of the frisbee it'll be interesting to see if there's as noticeable gain. And making the belt a little easier to access. When I originally changed the pulleys I don't recall a real problem with voltage but then it was drier around then and the engine had a tendency to idle high, Then the stock alternator failed and was replaced with a Wilson rebuild (first 2 defective !) and don't recall having having a real problem till recently before that one failed and is replaced with another jobber unit which isn't performing as good as the previous units, I guess you get what you pay for ! March says their 1.875 pulley will return the alternator speed to stock and if there's a slight loss it should be made up with your modification. Every time I look at that gap between the dampener and that clamp it looks smaller and hopefully removing the frisbee will make it easier to get my big hands in there to twist the belt around and get it through. I'll try and do a little math to figure out the proper belt size with a new pulley unless someone else comes up with a part number before then. Thanks again and cool site !

 

I'm sure you will like the gains from tossing the "frisbee".

Also with it gone you will find that it's rather easy to access the damper & timing marker.

 

I have the pulley set and kept the smaller alt pulley to keep it spinning faster. I put my battery on a trickle charge about once a week to make sure I dont kill the alternator or battery by over working them.

 

Just curious about your under drive set in "steel". Which is what I thought I had as it was a) cheaper & b) painted black. However, this last year while the car was apart I noticed some paint peeling at the edges. Low & behold it was actually the polished alum. under there!! Took some paint remover & what a nice look....
:cool:

 

Lucky ! the paint has come off mine and it's plain old steel. I found a smaller pulley very close to the size March recommends for $10 cdn at a rebuild shop, it turns out to be a Ford peice (ugh). Now hopefully someone can come up with a Dayco or other popular brand belt part # The parts store doesn't have access to the actual sizes or ready access to belts to compare and it would be nice to have an accuate place to start. I'm not in a hurry and will keep looking around before experimenting as even with the removal of the frisbee it's going to be a pain to change and the less belts I have to try the better. Thanks for the inputs !

 

The Dayco belt I used with my Mr Gasket pulley set is 5060860. It was actually 10mm shorter than the recommended size from Dayco because I didnt use their over-sized ALT pulley and kept my smaller pulley. The belt is a snug fit. It will not slide over any of the pulley except for the ALT pulley (smallest in DIA). Your parts guy should know where to go from there if you want a slightly longer belt. I think the next size increment is 5060870 which is 10mm longer than the one Im using. That one may allow your tensioner to pull it tight.

Hope that helps.

 

I Just finished changing the pulley, and it's nice to see full charging and voltage above 12V with the lights on. The belt turned out to be a Goodyear Gaterback #4060905, March came back with the Dayco #5060905 for use with their 1.875" pulley and my parts supply place came up with the Goodyear item, The only non Dayco belt in stock. It was tight getting the belt on with the Ford pulley and took so long for me to do because I couldn't get the March one off without help. The Ford pulley measures at the top of the ribs by eyeball and tape 1 7/8". The frisbee removal made the job way easier and the tab on the steering rack was easily bent with a long broad bit screwdriver making the belt a lot easier to get out. I wasn't expecting it to be so malleable. The nut wouldn't come off with an impact gun run of my Buses air-brakes supply, with help I tried a pipe wrench on a socket and allen key which resulted it the allen key hole stripping and wound up sticking the allen key between the fins which worked but bent the fin as I expected. The nut wouldn't fit with the lock washer so it's crazy glued for lock tight. I've yet to gauge if there's any performance difference because I can't get the key out of my ignition and it won't turn off (next project) so I'm disconnecting my battery when ever I'm stopped for any length of time and that might be effecting the performance due to the computer resetting ? Thanks to everyone for your inputs.