i was just buying a short belt and prying it up over the brakcet then useing a larger bolt to hold it all up when i had my 302 based motor.

but now that have put in this 351w based motor i can not find a belt that will work like that for me now. i spent most of today trying to make the factory tensioner work but no matter where i cut or drilled i just could not make it work out.

i have been thinking of trying to find some turnbuckels but im not sure what i need to try and get that will hold up to all the vibration and stress on the street. i also thought about getting two heim jionts and a short piece of pipeand just welding the jam nuts to the pipe.

i refuse to spend the 80+ dollars for the march kit.

just looking for ideas on how to make this work the cheapest way possable.

 

when i had no ps and ac i ran my belt from the bottom of the crank to the alt, alt to the TOP of the tensioner, down below the WP and around to the crank. i had to get a belt that was short by a half inch and 'jump' it on to the pulleys. worked great for years till i sold it.

 

March alternator bracket.

 

i have tryed that and it just did not work out on this, my belt is too long. i did try to go 1/2" shorter and 1" shorter but they had neither at the zone. i want to say my belt is a 45.5 but i need to double check to be sure.

those are nice but i just caint swing that right now, so its gotta be CHEAP lol.

suckst to be in college and have to take short cuts like this but i guess i can do it all over again once im back to makeing money insted of just spending lol.

 

you can make your own "march alt brackets" by buying a tensioning rod at a local hardware store. As the "bracket" piece i used a piece of alum that is approx. 3.5" long x 1" wide x 1/8" thick. Also used threaded rod to mount the bottom of the alt into the cyl head bolt hole. Use small diameter steel pipe cut to length as a spacer. Sounds ghetto, but it works just fine. And probably cost like $17. Hope this helps if you are trying to save money.

 

thanks, i guess i will be makeing a trip to tractor supply and granger monday to see what all i can find. that kinda sounds like what i had in mind on trying to make with the lil heim jiont and pipe deal. maybe i can find a small enough turnbuckel so i can use the factory bracket.

 

Mike, Take off the tensioner and on the back of it, you will see a small nub. That locates the tensioner. Grind that nub off and put the tensioner back on but dont fully tighten the bolt. Then run the belt from carnk to Alt. then OVER the tensioner, athen under the WP back to the crank. Thenyou can use the bolt on the tensioner pully to tension the belt and then tighten the bolt back up. Voila.. instant tensioner!!

 

Hers my hooptie. See how it routes? Works like a charm, done it a hundred times........

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:withstu:

just did it this past weekend on a buddys car

 

heres another pic just in case

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like dis

 

I've run it all 3 ways, and now have it like random-strike with a standard rotation pump which I like best.

 

thanks guys, i was kinda worried that if i ground the nipple off then the tensioner would spin around ( i do not have the locing bolt ). ill give it a shot today and see what i can screw up er i mean make work .

thanks again for the help, mike.

 

Those set ups work good or just the march alternator bracket that comes with the rod end and 1 piece billet bracket works great and theyre pretty cheap too and they come with all the spacers and bolts you'll need.

 

Here is how my windsor is set up.. I did take off the 3" crank pulley and put a normal underdrive on. run the belt from the crank pulley to the alt and it skims the water pump pulley, just enough to turn the pulley.


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that looks really sturdy, did you round that stuff up yourself or did you buy it ?


BTW with the pully that is on my tensioner i can not just grind the nipple off and use it. so i guess i am either on the hunt for a longer belt, a turnbuckle set up, or a smaller pully lol.

thanks for all the pics and ideas maybe i will have something by the end of the week to post a pic of.

 

Why can you not just grind the nipple off? What kind of tensioner do you have???

 

i have a stock tensioner arm off of a 302 mustang. i can grind the nipple off, but if i do so then the pully on the tensioner will hit the alternator fan. i will get some pics tomorrow for ya disney .

 

Yeah, pics would help a lot, but I think you are going to wrong way with it. I mean you're a smart guy, you should know what you're doing, I just have a hard time visualizing how the pulley could hit the atl. fan...

Make sure you are running the blet OVER the puley, and not under it. You cant use it like Random-Stikes's pictuire, use it like the belt is run in the pic I posted...