True Serpentine belt install on a BB mopar

[747mopar]

My exact thoughts on this kit, better placement, not crazy over the top blingy looking, one belt, tensioner, readily available parts and a lot cheaper than the other single belt setups. The power steering pump hookup isn't anything to worry about, both hardlines are 3/8" so just a compression fitting. Expect pics of it fully assembled by tomorrow or Saturday night.

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These kits look really slick black anodized. we've had people question whether its a factory option that was little known about.

I really debated having you do that to mine but I'd like to have it match my satin black shaker scoop and valve covers but after looking at them I may just leave them alone because they're sweet looking as is.

 

[sdconcepts]

if you ever change your mind we can always do it after the fact too. get the installation squared away and then send the parts back, usually takes less than a week for turn around.

 

[747mopar]

Here ya go, not hacked haha.



Now it clears my plumbing.



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A bit aggravated but in the process I learned something that might save others money. I was shopping around for a pump as described by SD and came across an "advertised" GMB reverse rotation pump at Summit but what do you know they're back ordered so I found one on Ebay. It showed up in the box and was labeled with the correct part # but was lacking the anti cavitation plate as advertised Needing it for the weekend I just called Summit and ordered a Milodon.



Here's the one they tried to pawn off on me

.



And the Milodon.





Look carefully at the brand cast into the pump.... the Milodon pump is a GMB that can be bought for nearly half cost (GMB 120-1200P)!!!

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Spent most of my time farting with the fan and radiator and have it barely clearing the power steering pulley but here's what it looks like. Another reason I liked this kit is because it looked like it wouldn't get in the way of my shaker scoop and it doesn't :headbang:.











Gotta pick up a water pump and alt pulley to finish it off but so far I'm loving this kit.

 

[HYRDGOON]

Everything looks awesome Dev! Not to mention who doesn't have a machine shop in their garage??? (Oh ya everybody!! hahahaha)

Glad to hear the clearancing isn't going to give you any big nightmares.

Fer Racin' AC comin rigggght up!!!

 

[ckessel]

Thank you for the shots of the installed stuff on the engine in the engine bay. Makes it way easier to figure out fitment and see the finished product.

 

[747mopar]

Thank you for the shots of the installed stuff on the engine in the engine bay. Makes it way easier to figure out fitment and see the finished product.

I can get better pics of all the brackets and where they go but this is a very well put together kit and bolts right up no problem. I'm really happy with the kit and prefer the painted black pulleys over billet anyways, I'd recommend it to anyone. Still need to get the last couple pulleys mounted before I can confirm pulley alignment but as of now they look really good.

 

[ckessel]

More shots would be even better. Thank you.

 

[747mopar]

More shots would be even better. Thank you.

I can do that, the A/C related parts are all that's holding me up right now but should finish it all up next weekend.

 

[747mopar]

Bad luck! My A/C pump was cracked so I had to wait on another but finally got it wrapped up. Installing this kit is really only an hour job provided you have everything you need sitting there but in my case I was in the middle of multiple installations requiring plenty of parts. Here's a few pics of the mounting points and different pulleys.

I couldn't find a power steering pump at the salvage yard with the correct 7 rib pulley so I bought the Jeep Cherokee pump and bought a new pulley at Napa for $15.00. They require the same tool as most Saginaw pumps to pull the pulley and reinstallation.



Here's the rear A/C bracket and the only piece I'd recommend being tweaked (slotting the holes) a bit by SD, reason being it's very common to have a block decked to zero deck height like mine and throw it off a bit. I slotted the holes just a fuzz to get the bolt off a bind and had to mill .043" off the spacer (not sure why the spacer was long)? No big deal, things that can be done with a file for those who don't have a mill.







Here's the mounting points for the power steering-alt bracket, all 3 bolt to the water pump.



A pic from the rear, the top bolt gets a nut on the back.



Both brackets bolt to the top water pump tapped holes.



The A/C side bracket has 3 bolts as well, the 2 you can see in the pic and the other (hidden behind the tensioner) Is shown in the last pic.



Here's the salvage yard water pump pulley and the SD adapter, pretty self explanatory.





All done accept I failed to realize that I had to refer to the instructions for the 1 wire sub kit for the correct belt so I'll get the right one tomorrow.



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I'll check belt alignment before running it but from eyeballing it everything looks great accept I think I might have pushed the power steering pulley on just a fuzz to far, easy fix.

Cost wise the only expensive part other than kit itself was my 1 wire alt, the rest of the stuff is pretty inexpensive. I probably spent $60 at the salvage yard for the power steering pump and pulleys, $100 at the local parts store for the belt, power steering pump pulley and tensioner another $88 for the Miloden water pump (same pump as a GMB 120-1200P for $50) and then the $330 alt.

Love the kit and don't regret buying it one bit, only issues were things you'd have to expect trying to make one kit fit ever possible senerio.

Thanks SD for an affordable well put together kit that looks and fits great for a fraction of the cost of other single belt setups.

 

[HYRDGOON]

As always Dev great informative post to help others that will follow in your footsteps. Going to help a lot of people with a final decision here and save some time on the install and parts selection for sure.

 

[747mopar]

As always Dev great informative post to help others that will follow in your footsteps. Going to help a lot of people with a final decision here and save some time on the install and parts selection for sure.

Just putting it out there seeing how I'm sure there's others on board that would appreciate the conveniences of a modern serpentine belt..... Not ever having to adjust the belt, not hearing the belt squall with that big alt, neater packaging, no more thrown belts and it just looks badass. Definitely a good move on my part.

Down side..... now if I ever decide on boosting power I AM NOT TOUCHING THIS so turbo it is haha.

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O.K. I'm an idiot, last night I tried to put the belt on with no luck (to short). I confirmed the part #, held my tong everyway I could think of, sent Jerry pics to see if he could see something and measured the belt to confirm it was labeled correctly. Came home and tried putting it on A/C pulley first as Jerry suggested and it fell right on :eusa_wall:

Jerry's a great guy and willing to help so hats off to him.

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Today was a good day, the belt is on and I found a local shop that can crimp my A/C hoses so I'll finish the car next trip to the garage. Unfortunately Ohio weather is doing what it does, looks pretty miserable all the way into next week.

 

[usaroadrunner]

there you go dev, go with the big SNAIL...its all free horse power, lets start spoooooooooooooooooooooling...

 

[747mopar]

Wrapped up everything (A/C, fans, etc) today and got to drive it, no belt slippage at all with it fully loaded even after starting it. Still have some clearance work to do because the 1/8 I had disappeared and now the power steering pump pulley is barely touching.

I can now personally garrantee you that a reverse rotation water pump with the anti cavitation plate does cool the motor just fine so you don't have to worry about that for those interested. I only had a few minor issues installing the kit and I mean very minor.

#1 the A/C bracket needed the mounting holes slightly enlarged (likely my aftermarket water pump housings fault).
#2 The A/C rear support bracket holes needed to be slotted (likely because my deck was milled to zero deck height).
#3 The power steering pump and alt bracket was holding the pulleys cockeyed, fixing it only required swapping the spacers behind the bracket with others that came in the kit (also likely caused by my aftermarket water pump housing).

My personal opinion is you'll have these issues with any kit simply because nobody can figure every possible senerio into a kit or even every possible tolerance for all pump housings. Laying a straight edge across the crankshaft pulley and measuring the belt at every pulley and checking the brackets are parallel to the crank will garrantee you'll be good to go.

Great looking kit, Thanks SD Concepts

 

[Grabinov911]

Had a great "vendor experience" today. I've been planning to do this serpentine modification and electric fans. My first call was to Wizard who made my radiator to talk about electric fan options. I had measured just about every dimension imaginable when Scott from Wizard asked what my "goal" was with converting from mechanical to electric. I told him about my desire to add a serpentine system as well. I also told him I wasn't sure whether to do the fans first and then fit in the serpentine system, or do the serpentine system and fit in the fans.

To his credit (and Wizard's), Scott told me that I'd probably be better off doing the serpentine system first and the fans later - I might end up with more room for the fans, and might end up with less. So I called SD Concepts.

They know Mopar. They know Big Blocks and they know pulley systems. The guy I was speaking to (feel bad I can't remember his name) knew every possible option for alternators and mounting, A/C compressors and mounting, power steering pumps, mounting options and hose types which vary from year to year, wiring for alternator and A/C... He wasn't even phased when I told him that I had a 440-Source water pump housing and a Bouchillon compressor mount. We spent 10 minutes just talking about A/C hose routing options! Oh and BTW, I called them at 5:01pm Eastern time.

Once you step away from stock parts, you often become "your own warranty station" in terms of getting the next part to fit, but these guys seem to have a solution to everything and are willing to spec a kit to fit.

Details to follow...

 

[ckessel]

Thanks for the tips!

 

[747mopar]

Had a great "vendor experience" today. I've been planning to do this serpentine modification and electric fans. My first call was to Wizard who made my radiator to talk about electric fan options. I had measured just about every dimension imaginable when Scott from Wizard asked what my "goal" was with converting from mechanical to electric. I told him about my desire to add a serpentine system as well. I also told him I wasn't sure whether to do the fans first and then fit in the serpentine system, or do the serpentine system and fit in the fans.

To his credit (and Wizard's), Scott told me that I'd probably be better off doing the serpentine system first and the fans later - I might end up with more room for the fans, and might end up with less. So I called SD Concepts.

They know Mopar. They know Big Blocks and they know pulley systems. The guy I was speaking to (feel bad I can't remember his name) knew every possible option for alternators and mounting, A/C compressors and mounting, power steering pumps, mounting options and hose types which vary from year to year, wiring for alternator and A/C... He wasn't even phased when I told him that I had a 440-Source water pump housing and a Bouchillon compressor mount. We spent 10 minutes just talking about A/C hose routing options! Oh and BTW, I called them at 5:01pm Eastern time.

Once you step away from stock parts, you often become "your own warranty station" in terms of getting the next part to fit, but these guys seem to have a solution to everything and are willing to spec a kit to fit.

Details to follow...

They're good guys to deal with for sure and that's good advice from Wizzard as well. I made the mistake of buying the fans first but only because I got a sweeet deal on them so I was expecting there to be some clearance work. If I had it to do over I would have bought the same fans just not pre-mounted, the plastic housing is what's holding it out away from the rad and they're a molded unit so I can't seperate them. They're working great but I need another 1/8" so no biggie but sometimes it's better to pay more and work less unless your in fear of being thrown out with the dogs.

 

[Grabinov911]

Today was a good day, the belt is on and I found a local shop that can crimp my A/C hoses so I'll finish the car next trip to the garage. Unfortunately Ohio weather is doing what it does, looks pretty miserable all the way into next week.

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Hey 747 I have a fitment question: I assume that the new water pump you are using is exactly the same size ("depth") as the old. In other words, the centerline of the water pump pulley has not moved forward or back from its stock position. That means all of the new components (AC Compressor, Alternator, Power Steering Pump) moved forward (toward front of car) as compared to stock such that all of the pulleys are now in the same plane?

As an example, my AC Compressor and Alternator pulleys are further to the rear of the car than the power steering pulley, which is itself behind the water pump pulley - I have the stock 4 belts. Since the position of the water pump pulley is "fixed" in this conversion, all of the other components must move forward into the same plane.

My Sanden AC compressor is 8.25" deep and I can't see how it could fit in front of the valve cover and distributor and still have the pulley line up. Your Compressor must be shorter (less deep).

 

[747mopar]

My compressor is a Sanden 508 and has maybe a 1/4" clearance to the head. The pump is the same (stock fitment). The water pump pulley actually moves forward, most stock water pump pulleys fit well back over the snout of the pump where SD's adapter has the new pulley a little forward of the water pump pulley mounting flange. Looking at post #29 you can see how the aluminum adapter offsets the pulley forward, not much but some. I'm assuming you haven't bought the kit yet and are just measuring it up? If you want I can measure a few things.

 

[Budnicks]

Looking good 747mopar

great thread with a ton of info for others too...

 

[Budnicks]

Nice to have a quality vender SD Concepts onsite helping you/us too...

stand up guy/co. it sounds like