Budman78's Poor Mans Serpentine Belt Conversion
contact: buddy.singletary@attbi.com
For all you guys that can't spend $1000 on a serpentine belt system here is my set up for $300. It's going on two years and haven't slipped a belt to 6000 rpms or had any problems.
Drivers side 88'ish corvette powersteering pump, bracket, reserve, and hoses for the pump. Pass. side 85 corvette a/c compressor and bracket. Middle pulleys and a C-4 water pump. All parts can come from a C-4, except the alt., which is a 96 truck 100 amp 180 degree mounting hole altenator and a tension rod from any performance shop. Install all the brackets and acc. Measure your power streering hose and take the new one with the old one to a hyd. line fabricator(Heavy machinery shop). The will piece them together for about $25.00. The other PS hose is reusable. Plumb the reserve with standard Auto parts hose and clamps. You may need to fab a bracket or find a good reserve in the junk yard. C-4 pumps put out a little more pressure, so steering will be alot more effortless. A/C is a one to one swap out. No big deal there and so is the water pump. The alt is the same except the wiring is a one wire system.
For belt tension I eliminated the original tensioner and add an adjustable rod from Steet and Performance. I think it was $30 or $40. You could do as Mrvette and put a breatless AIR eliminator bracket, but they are $170 +.
Pretty easy and the cost breaks down like this.
Air compressor $99.00
Alternator $120.00
Water Pump $20.00 ebay
Brackets/PS pum $40.00 ebay
Tension rod $40.00
