Serpentine Belt Setups For 69 Big Block Question
 

What serpentine belt setups will work on 69 with a big block? All I need to drive is the Water Pump, Alternator, and the Power Steering Pump. Are there any kits that keep the Alternator and the Power Steering Pump in their stock locations? Any pictures of your setups would be great. Thanks.

i tried to fit a serpentine system on my 72 (small block with adapter plates), but the crank pulley contacted the frame cross member. i didn't want to cut the frame, so i stuck with the stock system.

Vintage air makes a great system.

Front Runner. But all of the accessories hang off the front of the block (nothing over the valve covers big plus to me) and I am running a dewitts radiator and dual electric fans. My body is off so I was able to notch my crossmemeber for the lower pulley with relative ease. The system is also pretty pricey at around 2k but that includes everything but the power steering pump.

If someone can pm me and tell me how to add pictures to this site I will post a few of my setup. I do know that some people have run a mechanical fan but you would need to find a reverse rotation fan blade as the water pump spins in reverse.

Personally I love the thing. It looks great. All of the accessories run true and are very compact. You will have to convert your harness for the single wire alternator but thats a plus too at 140 amps compared to stock.

I still have to make up the AC lines but that will come when I install the Vintage air unit in the car.

Ok... I figured out how to add images:smash:

http://i35.tinypic.com/20a6nie.jpg
http://i38.tinypic.com/28tay2v.jpg

I purchased a setup from March Performance. I too had to notch the frame crossmember to get the lower pully to fit. Have ZZ502, original power steering pump, reverse rotation Edelbrock water pump, and Dewitts radiator with electric fans.

Hope some of this helps, good luck.

Very nice setup mysixtynine!!! Thanks for the pics and thanks to all others for the feed back!!! Looks like I need to do a little more research.

That vintage air setup is sweet!! I bought a serp setup from Street and Performance using their power steering setup and a Stewart reverse water pump. Works great.

I also have the Vintage Air on my Smallblock with the Dewitts Dual Electric Fan setup. My bottom pulley is very close to the Frame but there is still room to slip the Belt on so all is fine. The way I understand it some cars need to be clearanced and some don't.

My69-I like the blue on the block. Very nice. A change from the basic old Chevy Orange. I think I might go with that color. Did you paint the block?
I also was thinking about serpentine belt system, but I ran off whenI saw the price. Maybe their are other packages.
Are you going to be able to slip that engine under a stock hood?

I know purists wont like the blue block but its not really a Chevy its a Merlin3 by WorldProducts. Something about the polished aluminum and Blue struck a cord with me so I'm gonna roll with it.

As far as the hood.... yeah that's gonna need work. The whole body is a mess, I'll be getting to that soon. The car isn't number matching so I am gonna build it to make it work, be what I want it to be and drive it like its rented.

Good deal. I know BB will fit under a stock hood. Old BB from the late 60 early 70's did not really have much of a rise in the hood. I have a BB on a stand but I guess its all about the intake height. Sorry I did not mean to hijack this thread. The belt system looks great.

Dang that's a lot of motor!

Looks fantastic :thumbs:

Hey I completely forgot to send this over with my initial post. The following are from March Performance. I think you still may have to notch the member but this system puts the accessories in a location more like original. I didn't go with it because it was not as compact as I wanted it to be.

-20510 Big Block outward mount kit a/c and alternator $1021.55
-P410 Polished a/c compressor Sanden 508 $260.00
-P125 EDLEBROCK SHORT REV. ROTATION W/P $189.00
-P550 Polished 100 amp Alternator (TuffStuff) $160.00
Total = $1630.55
Package Price= $ 1528.39 plus the shipping
1-888-729-9070

I have a Serpentine setup, but you asked for '69 only...:leaving:

what is the advantage over conventional belts other than appearance?

What about fan interference? With a fan mounted, will it clear the shroud?

The advantages with the serpetine systems that I am aware of are:

Dynamic loading (the belts tighten on the takeup side when the engine is revved) due to the spring loaded tensioners ability to react to this tightening = longer belt life and longer accessory life.

One big belt with allot of surface = longer life. Easier to change I think as well. Most cars with a serpentine system get about 30-50k out of a belt or more.

The accessories are all in-line usually making them more compact and the accessories are usually hard mounted in-place so they cant loosen up like typical accessories.

Some guys will say that the single belt is a single point of failure thing. I say just carry and old belt with you.

Ive had nothing but success with my cars that have the serpentine system. Accessories seem to last forever.

My intage Air has one huge advantage over my old belt system. No mater what I did to shim the old pulleys and check and re check the alignment and try diffrent brands of belts they would always fly off over 6000 RPM. The new set up dosn't.

I got a setup from March (minus the power steering) and everything fits perfectly on my 71 with a ZZ454. I don't have any problems with the pulley clearing the crossmember...don't get me wrong, it's close, but it does clear. I used an Edelbrock short water pump (#8850) and a 140 amp alternator that I bought through March as well.