89gta383

Many thanks to D&C Vette for loaning me the laser alignment tool. I can see from the tool that I am off 2 ribs at 21 inches between my crank and blower pulley. I did not calibrate the laser tool though. I will do that using the supplied paper and see if it is still off.

For reference, I am using a SBC carbed vortech bracket on an 89 tpi car (for which this kit was discountinued) so I would expect there to be some mis-alignment. I had to grind on some of the brackets for clearance and this may have caused this mis-alignment but not sure.

I loosened the blower bolt and moved the blower pulley out enough to align the laser tool on the blower pulley and the crank pulley (both at the valley of the 2nd rib). It appears that i am about .230 off meaning the crank pulley is out further away from the centerline of the blower pulley by .230.

Question:

Is the preferred method to correct this to shim (with washers) the back of the blower bracket to move the blower forward towards the crank pulley (since the crank pulley is the centerline)

-or-

Shim the back side of the blower pulley to move the pulley out towards the front of the car and in alignment with the crank pulley? I would think using this method would put more strain on the blower shaft because the pulley is farther out from the blower?

BLOWNBLUEZ06

I updated the original post with some more information about troubleshooting the alignment issue as well as solving it.
Thanks to Dennis from A&A for his input on this!

Chicago1

Thanks man I know this helped me.

Krankshaft

Sorry to resurrect an old thread but I just wanted to thank BlownBlueZ06 for the alignment instructions. My tool was so far out of alignment out of the box it was sad.

I also wanted to share a slightly modified version of the method described I came up with when aligning the tool.

I found that marking the square with a marker by eye wasn't as accurate as I wanted it to be. In addition to that the laser produced a lot of glare on the flat shiny surface of the square making the black mark difficult to see.

I could have put a dot on some painters tape and stuck that to the square but of course I didn't have any painters tape left.

So I decided to print out some graph paper from the attached PDF, cut it out, and tape it to the square. Simply move the paper until the laser is in one of the boxes and tape it down. Then mark which box the laser is in. (Picture 1)

Then move the square to the end of the level and adjust the 4 allen screws until the laser is inside the marked box. (Picture 2)

The paper prevents the annoying glare and the blue lines can clearly be seen against the red laser. The adjustments were pretty touchy but I'm happy with the end result. (Picture 3)

The glare seen in pictures 1 and 2 is from the camera and isn't seen in person picture 3 is what you will see.

Tusc

So the graph paper would have to be employed AFTER a rough calibration using the cheap supplied paper guide, right? If not, then all that would be achieved with the graph paper is making the laser true along a straight line which is not necessarily the intended vector.

SmoothFRC

I’ve had no alignment issues with my gen 1 procharger bracket, but have fought belt slip issues which I’ve modified routing and tensioner setups in attempt to remediate.

I got tired of the pain to change the belt and picked up an ecs bracket. I love the ease of getting the belt on and the flexibility with belt size-but I’ve ripped up a few belts - Keeps jumping a rib towards front of car....

I know there are adjustments with the ecs tensioner, but thinking the bracket may be tilted. I have a dayco laser aligned but doesn’t fit well on the pulleys. I’ll try to make it work but will first check the spacing of main bracket against heads and go from there.

I am running a ls6/1 replacement ac delco water pump, so hoping ears just need to be trimmed - just odd I had no issues with the previous bracket setup.

Wish me luck as I’m not known for my detail oriented work.

97 SC Cobra

Mine is going towards the engine. Maybe someone with more expertise can confirm but in mind a belt not staying on track (and that you can confirm is coming off on a certain pulley) is usually being caused by that pulley or the one next to it. I could see mine on the dyno walking off the blower pulley. Anyway ECS is very helpful when trying to sort these things out. Shoot them an email or give them a call.

SmoothFRC

The belts only jumping at the head unit. It has jumped 2 ribs and all other accessories and balancer are still on all 8 ribs.

Only backside/smooth idlers between head unit and balancer (including water pump obviously on the other side). It’s either tilted or I’ll need some shims.

I did try shims already without really measuring anything and it still jumped. So thinking the tilt theory might apply here.

Just waiting for motivation to kick in to put some time in on it.

97 SC Cobra

Well hope u figure it out. What sucks for me is that I had the engine out of the car on a stand. I could have made sure everything was perfect but took it for granted that everything was going to be ok lol. Laser aligning in the car looked good. When we got it on the dyno it pinched one belt and looked like it was going to do it again so had to abort my tune. I’ll figure it out. Hopefully before I just say the hell with it and throw a flip drive on it.

SmoothFRC

Just a follow up - Think I have it sorted, had to adjust the tensioner essentially to the edge - so the belt is running on the very edge of the tensioner pulley vs being centered. Was able to run through the gears and the belt is still where it started - which is what is needed!

As a bonus, I've picked up an additional lb of boost - win win!

helga203

4DRUSH

You’re all a bunch of grasshoppers

helga203

O my god he's alive. Do you still have car??

4DRUSH

Yes, but I think the battery might be dead....

I’m glad to see Bret is still making informative posts.

Did he ever finish his car ?

Did anyone ever finish their car ? Lol

helga203

lol Brets car changed so many times I think he bought a Kia. Every once in awhile someone throws out a bone on there progress but some finhed up.

silver408z

Bret's car is not done. He has made some progress but also keeps changing somethings about it. He changed turbos a time or two recently lol. He was waiting on the 6xd trans for awhile also. He also has stayed busy building other cars like mine. Between customer cars and the real job, it has not left him much time to put in on his own.